{WiP} Wednesday ~ 40/52

I think I'm only capable of blogging once a week. It seems like every time I participate in the Instagram Friday link-up, I can't manage to post to the WiP Wednesday link-up! Ah, well...I'm sure you're all bored enough with my posts, you don't need more in your feeder!

First up, after much ado about very little, I FINISHED the grand Fruit Stripe quilt! Hallalujah!!

Once again, it is the Travel Quilt pattern from Oliver+S, in their book "Little Things to Sew." It's a really lovely quilt when it's finished, and it's not complicated at all. I will say (again), however, that I think the instructions for cutting could have been written a little more clearly. I've made it now, twice, and instructions for sewing are pretty clear, but the cutting instructions leave a bit to be desired. It is quite probable that I'm easily confused, though, and that no one else has this problem. :)  I love the way it looks when it's finished, though!

Our friends, James and Natalie and their adorable little muffin, Baby G, are moving, and were coming through town, so I had the opportunity and impetus to get the quilt for Baby G finished. Nothing like taking it out of the dryer 45 minutes after they arrive... :)

But all three of them loved it. :)

In the picture above, you can kinda see how the quilting ended up looking. After my myriad tension and quilting issues. I finally figured it out, though...in the last 5 inches of the quilt!! Hah! I will say, though, that most of the little "eyelashes" that I had did come out in the wash. Other than that, you really had to search for them. My greatest hope is that the quilt doesn't somehow come unquilted, but I doubt it will. :)

You saw the back (below). Thank you to all of you who encouraged me to go with this for the back. It's 800 kinds of PERFECT!!!!  And a zillion times better than a pieced back could have been!

You can see the quilting again here, as well as my mostest favoritest binding ever in the history of bindings. (Yes, more favorite even than the Calypso Ovals in Blue for Kelly's Travel Quilt!).  I am now out of that fantabulous rainbow fabric (bought at Joann's at least 3 years ago), but I'm SO superdy duperdy glad I still had enough for this quilt. There isn't a more better fabric out there.

You can also see Baby G's sweet little footsie and her nummy nummy knees. :) She's adorable, really.

Oh, and here's another thing to be proud of...every stitch of that quilt is made from my stash. Every solid, every scrap, the white, the batting, the binding. Even the thread! If you recall, I went out and purchased some AURIfil, but my machine did NOT want to quilt with that! Anyway, I'm still super proud that I made this quilt for "free". :) 

Now. Back to my sewing machine...here's what I need to be sewing right now!

1. Natalie's Wonky Star ~ I've got it figured out, I just need to cut and sew. And mail.
2. Yolanda's (can't tell you) ~ My dear, sweet friend, Yolanda (who many of you know from Flickr swaps and bees) is celebrating her birthday in a couple of weeks, and so, we in the Bee Happy bee are making something for her. I'll tell you about it later in case she reads my blog. Which I doubt she will, but one never knows! :)  **If you DO know Yolanda, I encourage you to click the link on her name and go read her blog. Prepare to spend a bit of time there. She isn't in the best of health these days, and could really use all our prayers and encouragement.
3.  Mod Mosaic for Susan ~ Chewing through our Mod Mosaic bee, it's Susan's turn, and I need to get busy.
4. Butterflies and Rainbows Quilt ~ I love how it looks right now!
   
   (Yes, I have a problem. I'm afraid someone will stage a Rainbow Quilt Intervention...but they're just SO doggone happy!)
5. Grayson Quilt ~ Yeah. Hmmmmm...about that...I'm just not motivated right now! :) It's low priority, though. Well, lower than the Butterflies quilt, and my bee blocks, at least. 

Other than that...(ahem)...life is really busy around here. We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday, then played with friends, we hiked part way up a mountain on Monday, we had fabulous and dear friends over on Sunday, I celebrated a new baby on the way with more dear friends on Saturday, I went to a Tastefully Simple party on Friday, my father-in-law came for a visit, and arrived late Wednesday night, so there was a lot of baby holding and tea parties and such on Thursday. :) And the rest of this week looks to be about the same speed! TOO FAST!

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

Since most of this post is about my Fruit Stripe quilt, I'm linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.


And then I'm also to link up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for her weekly WiP Wednesday party.

And also to Megan's {Sew} Modern Monday's linky party. :)