{WiP} Wednesday - 5/52

Not the greatest week in the "Done" department, but not as bad as the past few, at least! :)

Done

1. Bee Happy Blocks - January - Janice sent pieces of Hope Valley and asked us to make one block with (non-wonky) triangles, and one block with a circle of Hope Valley set into a white circle. Here's what I made. The triangles are loosely based on something I saw called a Friendship Block, and the circle is loosely based on Denyse Schmidt's Pie In The Sky quilt block:
   
   


2. Swaddling Blankets - I got a small stack of swaddling/receiving blankets finished for Kelly once I got my serger back (hooray!), but there is a steep learning curve with that thing! It's a totally different kind of animal than a regular sewing machine! Sheesh! So, there were some hiccups, and some re-doing, and, well, they're done. Kelly also had her baby on time, so I'm way behind now. I was totally counting on that boy being a week late like her other kids. :)
   
   Interestingly, I found that if I did a regular 4-thread chain stitch (below, on the left), the edge laid flat, but I didn't really like it. It wasn't decorative enough. So I did a 3-thread rolled hem (below on the right), with a contrasting thread, and I like it much better. 
   

   
   

But look, the edge is wavy. Hmph. So much to learn. :-)

Still Cooking

1. The Harrison Quilts ~ some progress, though not finished.
2. Christmas Cards ~ no progress.
3. Bee Blocks ~ 2 down, 8 to go! :) Heck, probably 9 or 10 by now, I've lost track.
4. Seaglass Quilt ~ I'm still stuck on the back. It'll happen, I know it will. 
5. Baby Gifts ~ making progress! Some gifts done, and I remembered another friend who is pregnant, so for about 2 days, I had 13 friends who are pregnant. Then Kelly had her adorable little Tucker Man, and I'm back to 12. :)
6. Juice ~ progressing nicely, I guess. No status change...which is a really really good thing at 30 weeks!
7. Mod Mosaic Quilt ~ As a member of the Flickr Mod Mosaic bee, I got to be first, and I went with monochromatic blocks so I can make a (say it with me) spectrum quilt. Take a gander at this bad boy, and try to curb your jealousy:
               
   

On The Back Burner

1. Fruit Strip Quilt ~ stalled.
2. Mod Mosaic Blocks ~ stalled.
3. Puppet Theater Backdrop ~ stalled. The girls think it's superfab without it, so why bother?
4. MQG Showcase Quilt ~ stalled, but there needs to be!! I need to move this one up!
5. Secret Projects ~ stalled, sigh, 8 still to go.
6. Maternity Skirts ~ heck, at this rate, I might as well just leave them alone and wear them after I have the baby!
7. Quilt-alongs ~ stalled.
8. Juice's Quilt ~ stalled.
9. T-Shirt Quilts ~ stalled. Since I'm doing this with/for other people, I'm waiting on them to make it urgent.
10. Sprout's Goodnight Moon Quilt ~ stalled, her birthday is in May, so maybe I'll finish it then.

Lots and lots to do this week! Hopefully I'll get more done. I'd really love to be able to show the Seaglass quilt at my MQG meeting on Saturday.

I hope you have a great, and productive, week!

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for her regular WiP Wednesday feature. Check out what other people have accomplished this week!

Taking It For Granite

I discovered something yesterday.

And it relates to a very important discovery I made Wednesday morning.

In a box marked "batting", I found nearly 25 yards of flannel prints. Yes I have a problem. I realize this, but that isn't the point. The point is, rather than having to buy flannel to make receiving blankets for the 13 people I know that are pregnant (I realized I forgot another friend! Gah!), I can just go "shopping" in my stash!

Hello happy wallet, eh?! :)

Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, I guess, most of it is definitely girlie. In general, I think that cute flannel for boys is just hard to find anyways, and also, I've got two little girls, and most of my friends were having girls, so my eyes went to the girlie flannel. Good then, not necessarily bad now, because of my 13 friends that are pregnant, half are having girls, so I'm good. I think I may still need to buy some boy flannel, but I know I'm saving money right now.

Which is nice.

Anyway. After that discovery, I chose a few prints and washed them. I always prewash flannel. I don't always prewash my quilting cotton. Flannel shrinks. Not good. Prewash. Good.

Now, as hard as I try to prevent it, there are inevitably wrinkles in the flannel. And those wrinkles run deep, you know? I kind of hate to have to iron out the wrinkles in flannel, but it seems like something I just can't avoid. :-/

Back to Line 1 -- I discovered something yesterday.

My (granite) kitchen island is PERFECT for ironing flannel. PERFECT!!!

It's just the right height, it is muuuuuch wider than my ironing board, I don't have to worry about the flannel sticking to the board, I don't have to worry about stray threads from other fabric sticking to the flannel, I get to be near my children when they don't want to play upstairs near my ironing board...the list goes on and on.

I ironed the piece on the left, and you can see how different it is compared to the piece on the right, that I didn't iron, yet.  It's not, you know, scientific, or anything, but to me, it's a pretty significant difference. Especially since some of my cuts of flannel are 2 yards. Ironing 2 yards of sticky flannel on an ironing board is aaaaggggoooonnnnyyy. Ironing 2 yards of flannel on my island is eeeeaaaassssyyyy. Zip, zip, zip.

Now, if only I could find a cutting mat that fit the island exactly...THAT would be a dream come true. :)

In other news, I finished my bee blocks for Janice (for the Bee Happy bee). She sent us Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley and asked us to make on block with triangles, no wonky allowed, and one block with a set-in circle, where the innards of the circle could be any design we wanted.

I looked and looked at block designs with triangles, and kept coming back to the simple ones. I saw what someone called a friendship block, so I went with it, modifying it a bit. And for the inside of the circle, I decided to go with a loosely inspired version of Denyse Schmidt's Pie In The Sky pattern. The setting-in was challenging, and I was really sure it would come out all warped and gross and, well, just wrong.

But it turned out with very microscopic warps, and Janice is pleased with both, so that's a win.

OH...and in other, exciting news...I get to pick up my serger today!! They figured out how to make the knocking stop, and get the rocking started! I'm so excited. I'm not sure, yet, what the problem was, but I've prepped a bit so, hopefully I can crank out some things tonight and tomorrow.

THAT would make me happy as this has been a low-sew week.

{WiP} Wednesday 4/52

Wednesday to Wednesday goes fast!

(I linked up with Lee at Freshly Pieced again. There are some really great things being created all over, and linked up there.)

I had some success this week with a (sshhh!) new project. 

I decided on Thursday, or was it Friday, to take out a serger that had been given to me, and see if I could figure out how to make it work. Keep in mind that I'd never even plugged it in! I had it serviced, so I knew it worked...I just didn't know HOW! :o)  But I was determined.  And I had my friends on Facebook to help me. 

Friday I learned that even though it was serviced, and worked in the shop, it didn't work at home. It's a 5-thread serger, and when I took it back to the shop on Saturday, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with the 5th thread over there - the chain-looper. One theory is that the thread is just, plain, old. Another is that there is a problem with that looper. I decided I didn't need to chain loop anything, so I bought 4 cones of new thread, and tested it out there in the shop, and was PLEASED!! With myself. With them. With the serger. With my new list of possibilities (like I need more projects??)...pleased.

I took it home, cut out some fabric for a possible baby gift idea I can (a) whip out like butter, and (b) save a ton of money on, and proceeded to serge my way to glory. 

Oh, that serger was a-rockin'!  And then...it started knockin'. :-(  At precisely 3:50, and the repair shop closes at 4:00. On the other side of town. :-(  And it stopped working altogether. My serger went belly up, and took my motivation with it! Saturday at 4:00pm. 

And I haven't seen my motivation since.  I took my serger in Monday morning to see if they can get the timing back to sync, and I'm sure hoping they can! I want it back! It's only been sitting in my closet collecting dust for over a year, but I'm desperate to have it back rightnow!!

Still Cooking

1. The Harrison Quilts ~ some progress, though not finished.
2. Christmas Cards ~ no progress.
3. Bee Blocks ~ I've only got, like 10 to make...hah!  Here's one, though, for Janice in the Bee Happy Bee. She asked for one block with triangles of any sort (just not wonky), and one with circles. I haven't started that one yet since I haven't seen my mojo in a while.
   
4. Unnamed Quilt ~ I actually have a name for it (Seaglass), and have finished the top, and even know what I'm going to do for the back, but I can't share any of it with you. It's stalled because while I am excited about the back, I am also intimidated. I shouldn't be. I know this. But I am. :o)  I'm silly. 
5. Baby Gifts ~ stalled, although I am making preparational progress. I just can't make actual progress until I find out the fate of my serger.  I actually know of 11 other people that are pregnant right now. Oh, dang! 12! My neighbor! Shoot. I have GOT to get on the ball with this!!
6. Juice ~ He's growing nicely. I had an ultrasound yesterday, and he is measuring right on track, maybe even a little big (gasp!). And his current estimated weight is a hefty 3.4 pounds. But if you think that from this point the baby gains about 1/2 pound a week, and I've got 9-10 weeks left, that puts him between 7.5 and 8 pounds! Yipes! I won't know what to do with a baby that big! Both my girls weighed 6 1/2 pounds at birth. :o)

On The Back Burner

1. Fruit Strip Quilt ~ stalled.
2. Mod Mosaic Blocks ~ stalled.
3. Puppet Theater Backdrop ~ stalled. The girls think it's superfab without it, so why bother?
4. MQG Showcase Quilt ~ stalled, but there needs to be!! I need to move this one up!
5. Secret Projects ~ stalled, sigh, 8 still to go.
6. Maternity Skirts ~ heck, at this rate, I might as well just leave them alone and wear them after I have the baby!
7. Quilt-alongs ~ stalled.
8. Juice's Quilt ~ stalled.
9. T-Shirt Quilts ~ stalled. Since I'm doing this with/for other people, I'm waiting on them to make it urgent.
10. Sprout's Goodnight Moon Quilt ~ stalled, her birthday is in May, so maybe I'll finish it then.

So, yeah. I need to find that dadgum pile of motivation and get. to. work!!! I need to get some finishes under my belt!!

I hope you have a great week, and get more done than I am! :o)

{WiP} Wednesday ~ 3/52

I had some successes this week, but no finishes that I can show you. :)

Stick a Fork In It!
I finished the dadgum frustrating block from Friday's post. I said I was tempted to throw it out and start over...well, that's pretty much what I did! I salvaged as much of the original fabric as I could, but just started over. I like how it turned out, but I'm glad it's done! That's one thing about bees, they definitely yank you out of your comfort zone! No mercy! :)  I love my bees, though. Here's a peek at the pile of trash scraps I generated:

 Cooking

1. The Harrison Quilts -- I used the Fruit Stripe binding to bind my solids challenge quilt. Last fall, I bought The Binding Tool, and this is the first chance I've had to use it. I watched the video a couple of times, and went confidently to the cutting table. I held the ruler just so, I marked where I was supposed to mark, I held my breath and cut. Much to my dismay, it was too short. I had at least 6 inches of extra binding, and I cut it too short.  Mama was not happy! :)  So I went to bed.  I should know not to operate a rotary cutter after 11pm. The next morning I woke up and realized what my problem was, and what my solution was.  Now I'm debating whether to finish the binding by machine or by hand. 

2. Christmas Cards -- I sent two out! Yay me!
3. Bee Blocks -- No progress. I have my plan, I just need to execute it. Here are the lovely Hope Valley prints that Janice sent.

4. Happy Quilt -- (aka Fruit Stripe Quilt). I'm moving this to the Back Burner.
5. Unnamed Quilt -- I got the fabric cut for another baby quilt, and I'm excited to get started. And finished! I can't wait to see what it looks like. :) I think this can be done quickly (if I can stay off the computer!)
6. Baby Gifts -- Hi, Kelly! :)
7. Juice -- "Juice". That's what I've decided to name the little Chinese cabbage-sized human growing in my womb. "Juice" because that's pretty much all I could drink from mid-August till about mid-November. Yesterday I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and was quite surprised by this.

Look how round that bump is! I am 28 weeks along, and everything is progressing normally. :)



On the Back Burner

1. Fruit Stripe Quilt-- the colored fabric is all cut, now I just need to cut the background.

2. Mod Mosaic Blocks -- not urgent. Yet.
3. Puppet Theater Backdrop -- not urgent.
4. MQG Showcase Quilt -- I just have to get some other stuff done first.
5. Secret Projects -- one down, at least 8 more to go! :)

6. Maternity Skirts -- still too cold.
7. Quilt-alongs -- I think I'm going with the Swoon Quiltalong, and I'll do the wonky star quilt for myself some other time. I just think my uncle (and aunt!) will like the Swoon quilt more than a wonky star quilt. I'm also holding off on starting Amy's Craftsy Block of the Month one because, for the life of me, I can't figure out what fabric to use!
8. Juice's Quilt -- eh, he won't know the difference for at least 3 years. :)
9. T-shirt Quilts -- no change.
10. Sprout's Goodnight Moon Quilt -- gotta get other stuff done first!

Other than that, hahaha, I think it should be a quiet week around here.

I hope you have a great, and crafty week!

(I linked up with Lee at Freshly Pieced. Check out the other WiPs out there. Intimidating and inspirational all at the same time!)

Tangled in The Web

So, yes. I cleaned off my workstation.  Yes, I've been productive. The whole "everyone off the Internet for a whole day" thing helped on Wednesday. Thank you, lawmakers. :o)

Unfortunately, I've been productive doing things that I can't post about!!

What's the point in having a creative blog to show everyone what you're secretly creating when the people you're secretly creating for are reading same said blog?? :-(  Such is the life in this interconnected interwebby world, eh?

So, anyways, here's a picture of the mostly stuck on the design wall Happy Quilt for you:

I've got to cut some background fabric for it, and I can start piecing it, but I had to order a very small amount of fabric to complete it. I'm hoping to break out of this odd habit I have where I canNOT begin a project until I have all the parts for it. Even if I'm waiting on something miniscule to be used at the end. It's just wrong for me to behave and create that way! It's an incredible waste of precious time...so, yeah. I want to stop that silliness. :o)

I also got the binding ready for the quilt I have to bind. The binding reminds me of Fruit Stripe gum. Remember that? It was good. Except the flavor lasted exactly 9.4 seconds.

I think I'll probably bind The Happy Quilt with the Fruit Stripe binding also, and change the name of the quilt to Fruit Stripe. :o)

I worked on a frustrating bee block that I can't show you (see interwebbyness above), and didn't get it done. First of all, I'm following a tutorial that isn't written quite as accurately and explicitly as I need. Second, this one isn't a mindless block, if that makes sense. There's a lot of attention required. And maybe a lot more patience and confidence than I have. I'm very tempted to throw it away and just start over. I just don't have the time or the energy to attempt to take something that is a failure and make it look fabulous, when, in the end, it's going to look like a failure anyways. I've already spent more time on it than I care to admit, and I'm just not sure that spending more time will make a difference. I'm ready to cut my losses and start over.

In a Truth Project update, I'm finding it really hard to live within the limits I set for myself. Some things are easier than others, of course, but some of them are just really hard! Last week we did really well with not eating out, but this week, we've eaten out twice. I did buy fabric, but I only bought fabric for projects that I have in mind, and are already in progress, so that's okay.  I did buy a sewing tool I could possibly borrow, but I'm not sure if I know anyone who actually has said tool, so I haven't used it yet, and I'm still holding onto the receipt. :o)  And I did have to buy an office supply item. I had to buy a new printer because our old one was possessed by evil spirits. And it was on super sale. And I know I'll be infinitely happier (right??). That printer was what blew my budget, though. And our trash can broke, so I need to buy a new one of those. Sweet little, angel-faced, Sprout loves to get stuff out of the trash can, so we need a robust one. With a lid. ;o)

Aww, just look at that sweet little face.

It's strange, though. Sorta. Yes and no. That in my attempt to cut out the "spirit of poverty", I'm feeling more strapped than ever!

The Truth is depressing, isn't it!

{WiP} Wednesday ~ Week 20!

(I'm linking with Lee at Freshly Pieced for {WiP} Wednesday)

I have less to report this week than I was hoping for (and no pictures! How depressing!), but I am very proud to report that my sewing table has been cleared of myriad junk that had taken up residence on it. So now I feel like I have no excuse I can sew like the wind! :)

Here. I'll show you a picture of that:

Oh, and I have so much to DO!!  It's pretty ridiculous, really.

I'm really glad I made my calendar last week, so now I feel like I can focus on what I need to finish first, and then can have some free brain cells to work on what I really want to work on. What a novel concept, eh? :)

Done
Well, I wouldn't call them finished, per se, but I sure got a lot further than I was on the Harrison quilts. All the quilts for the kids are bound, and 3 of the 4 have the hand quilting completed.  Now I just need to tie up the loose threads, hand quilt that 4th, and get a binding on the quilt for the mother. It will feel so good to get those done! I know this. I know this.

I tried to work on some bee blocks on Saturday at our guild sew. I promise I tried!! Audrey even tried to help me, but the tutorial I was using wasn't very clear, and so I didn't bring enough fabric. Boo, hiss.

Cooking

1. The Harrison Quilts -- still here in this list, but I'm closer! Go me!
2. Christmas Cards -- Oh, I crack myself up. I sent out 2 today. Progress? Meh. 
3. Bee Blocks -- I have the fabric in my hands, now, to make 2 blocks for Janice. I also need to work on that one from above that didn't start off so well... :-(
4. A Happy Quilt -- kinda secretive, but I've pulled fabrics and started cutting to make a happy quilt for someone. :) See the picture above? I found some cool, meaningful, inspirational fabric last week, and now I'm ready to go! (Oh, but I left out the meaningful fabric.)

On the Back Burner

1. Mod Mosaic Blocks -- I have at least 3 that must be done for other people, and 24 that have to be done for me. (Stalled) 
2. Puppet Theater Backdrop -- I moved the fabric a little. Does that count? :) 
3. MQG Showcase Quilt --  I'm waiting till I get some other must-do projects finished before I start on this. It's all designed, though! 
4. Secret Projects -- I made a list on my laptop of these gazillion secret projects... 
5. Kelly's Baby Gifts -- I have a pattern! I have some fabric! I should be cutting it up!! Seriously, though. I'm a bit scared of following a pattern. I kinda believe that most pattern writers either (a) don't have a clue how poorly written the pattern is copy editors or proof-readers because they are TOO confusing and redundant and waste fabric like crazy, or (b) they do it that way on purpose so you have to buy the pattern. This, and flannel blankets. :) She knows that. (Hi, Kelly!)
6. Maternity Skirts -- too cold to wear skirts!
7. Quilt-alongs -- 
1. I'm still on the fence about the Swoon one. I've changed my mind on the quilt I'm going to make for my uncle, and I'm MUCH more excited about this design!(see #11 below) It's not necessarily easier? But maybe? Anyways, I was inspired by THIS ridackulously gorgeous quilt by Jennifer.
2. I'm still planning on doing Amy's Block of the Month at Craftsy, I just can't commit to any fabric, yet! Not inspired...YET! :)
8. My Baby's Quilt -- no change. I've got the fabric, and the plan, but there are other things ahead of it.
9. T-shirt quilts -- no change. Joann's has interfacing on sale this week, so I'll get some of that, and I need to wash and prep the shirts, but there's no urgency on this one, so it languishes.
10. Sprout's Goodnight Moon Quilt -- I hope to finish it for her birthday in May.
11. Uncle Phil's Quilt -- here's the fabric I get to use (so excited!)

 

And in other news, if you're still with me. I L<3VE Vistaprint products. Today's LivingSocial deal is for $50 worth of their products for $10. I love it when they do that!!!  Click HERE for the link if you want to get the deal.

That's all for now! Have a great week - good luck getting your WiPs into your DuNs pile. :)

If You Fail To Plan...

Yes, I am aware that my WiP list is long and intimidating and kind of ridiculous. :-)

Sometime between yesterday and today, I realized that as I jumped from one project to another to another I need to come up with a PLAN. I need to figure out which projects need to be done and when. What fabric needs to be bought for each project, and when. Who is having what kind of baby, and when. So I printed out a calendar, got out a lovely pack of pens, and I'm ready to

Plan!!
 

I really think this will help me stay true to my fabric-buying restriction and not get caught at the end of the month with a bunch of fabric, and no diapers!! :-)

I'm actually pretty excited about one (probably two) quilts on the horizon. I've decided to admit to the world that I'm not ever going to even start my Bottled Rainbows quilt, and use the solids for these two quilts rather than buying more identical fabric. You know I love me some rainbows, so I'll be using the solids to make a couple of new, oh-so-lovely quilts. And actually working within my stash rather than buying new fabric. Win!

And so far, I've done better this week about eating out. Yay me! The added benefit is that the girls seem to have better days in the digestional department when we eat at home more than we eat out. :)

We have a FRMQG guild sew tomorrow, and I'm taking two things: the Harrison quilts to bind, and some mod mosaic blocks to work on. I hope to have something good to report next week!

Have a great weekend!