Lots of updates!

I finished this months Table of Elements section with plenty of time to spare. It was getting difficult to hold the scroll frame while trying to stitch so I ordered a stand with an Amazon gift card I received. It’s taken some getting used to using both hands for stitching, but it’s made me actually stitch faster since my right hand isn’t going under the frame for each stitch. Right hand now stays on top and left hand stays on the bottom. Now I’m looking to see if I can put some of my other projects in a scroll frame so I can work on them faster. I’ll be able to just switch out the frame on the stand when needed. Can’t wait for Monday to get the next piece of the design, we had 13 elements for the first month and for February we get 20 elements! Since I’m hoping to have other projects done before then, I might actually be able to stay on target with this.

I had to order way too many fabrics to try and get what I wanted for the last border on this quilt and still didn’t get the one I wanted. But after a couple of guild meetings where I asked advice from friends, I picked a fabric and got the borders on this and now it’s ready to be quilted. I talked about finding the pieces for this quilt back in 2020, the post is here. This was a fun quilt to do, and used a ton of my 1.5″ squares, but somehow there’s still a ton of them in the bin. I have another quilt that will use a bunch of those, that will be another post though!

Wow, this 2017 Hexagon Temperature Quilt took 5 years to complete the top! I started part way the year in 2017 and just totally lost the urge to work on it for awhile. The hexagon blocks were done for a long time, I just needed all the sashing pieces completed. I even had the 4 border pieces completed way before I needed them. Thankfully EQ allows me to see how many pieces are used in a quilt, 1,415 2.5″ squares in this quilt. Yet somehow the bin is just as full as it was before! I have 1 little lone hexagon that needs appliqued on and it’s ready for quilting. I have so many ready for quilting!!

So while I was doing some cleaning and putting things away I found a bin of already cut HST pieces that finish at 2.5″. So I decided that would be perfect to use as a leader/ender project while I work on other things. I matched up everything I had already cut – 1 white with 1 color and then found that I had a TON of colored triangles that needed a white to match. Ended up spending an afternoon cutting white-on-white fabrics with the Studio, I needed 356 white triangles cut and then spent time during Cassie’s gymnastics class pinning them together so they are ready to stitch when I need them. Have no clue what pattern I’ll use for these yet, I have plenty of time before that needs to be figured out!

I finally finished the Harry Potter quilt top!!! Well I need to do a border still, but the fabric is sitting here waiting to be cut and sewn on. I am only going to do a small border on the top and bottom since it’s already the right size for our bed. I need a little bit more on the sides though. I have no clue what to do about the backing yet, I have a bunch of different Harry Potter fabrics I’m thinking about putting together for the back, I just don’t know if I have enough or not though.

I’m very excited that I’m making progress on so many things this month. I currently have 46 items on my 2022 UFO Challenge list, and I think about 20 of them JUST need quilted. I’m still saving up to get a long arm and I’m hoping there are some good deals at the sewing expo this year that will allow me to get the one I want for less money. Still not 100% sure where it’d go if I do get one, but man I’d be able to get so many quilts completely finished if I had one! I’ll be back in a few days with more, I have an OMG post to do as soon as I finish the EPP work on Cassie’s quilt and I have a new project to let you know about.

Odds and Ends

I haven’t been doing much quilting lately, but I have been working to change that this weekend. After I finished making some masks for my sister and finished a small project for my dad, I decided it was time to work on my bow tie quilt. It’s been sitting around since before 2017 and I needed to get more done on it. So I stitched up all the bow ties I had sitting here already prepped and then finished all the alternate 9 patch blocks I needed for the border. I’m trying to do each bow tie block out of a different fabric, so I pulled out a large bag of scraps that I had bought years ago at a guild garage sale. All the squares are 3″ so I have to do some trimming before I can start sewing them together. I also need to cut some 2.5″ white on white squares, I will do that on the Studio once I’ve got the rest of the squares cut up. Hopefully I’ll have some time this week to cut them and get everything paired up so when I have time to stitch I’m ready to go.

I’ve been spending my time after the kids go to bed working on cross stitch. I have 2 wonderful teachers at school that are getting special gifts this year, one is finished and I need to get the second one started soon. I don’t have any pictures of the piece I’m working on right now, but it’s almost finished and I will post about it then. A friend on instagram had posted some Star Wars planets she was working on and she told me where to get them on Etsy. The first planet is almost done and Alex is quite thrilled with them getting done, all 9 will be framed and put on the wall in the hallway upstairs. I’m hoping that I can get the last 2 colors finished off tonight, depends on how tired I get after dinner. 🙂 That will be my Slow Sunday Stitching, check out what others are working on today at Kathy’s Quilts.

Since I got my cross stitching out again I found that there’s an awesome app that you can use to mark off what you’ve stitched. Unfortunately for me it’s only available for android, what’s a girl to do but buy a small android tablet for the app to run on? Pattern Keeper is a great app, but not all charts can be loaded in it yet. So I pulled up my MacStitch app and started putting some of them in myself. I also found that some charts on Etsy are already formatted for Pattern Keeper (PK) and if you ask nicely they might even add that to the download for you. I had one that I asked about before I bought and she saved it in the download for me. I can’t wait to start that one, it’s a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows piece, but I need to get the teacher ones and the Star Wars planets done first.

I need to get back to work on cutting up the 3″ squares, I hope to be back soon with some finishes.

Design Wall Monday – July 25, 2016

I know, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything! It’s been a busy couple of months around here! The school year ended and the camping season began. Alex was sick during our Memorial Day camping trip – including a trip to the ER. Turned out he had an ear infection and the start of pneumonia! Our next trip was just the hubby and I on a little long weekend trip for our 17th anniversary. We ended up totally changing the plans due to the transmission going on our truck while on the highway in West Virginia. Took pretty much an entire month to get it fixed and back too! We spent a whole week (including 2 weekends) in Virginia at the MIL’s new house – pretty much spent the whole time in the pool. The kids had a ball playing with their cousins the whole week. July 4th weekend was fun in PA and this past weekend was spent at a KOA with one of my high school friends and her family camping. It’s been non-stop fun!

Mario Quilt 072516In between all these camping trips, I managed to finish putting the Mario Quilt blocks together, layer each one and quilt them. I put them together in rows of three and I’m currently working on hand sewing the sashing on the back since I’m doing quilt as you go on these. I have all the pieces cut out for the borders and I’ve started putting them together, but it’s going to take a long time since there’s a lot of pieces! I won’t be able to enter this in any judged shows, it’s the first time I’ve ever done quilt as you go, and there’s not enough batting in between the blocks. I debated adding some additional batting in, but I’m actually very ok with the lack of batting in between blocks. I’ll have to measure a little better for the sashing in between the rows to minimize the issue. IF I can finish it soon I can enter it in our guild quilt show in October though!

Hope to be back soon with a finish! Linking up with Patchwork Times, check out what everyone is up to!

New Quilt Started

Mario quilt a 033116I really didn’t need a new project, BUT I was listening to a podcast the other day, Katie’s Quilting Corner, and she was talking about finishing a Super Mario pixel quilt. I remembered that a few years ago I had bookmarked a website with the patterns and I had started creating them in EQ. So Tuesday I finished my designing, Wednesday was a trip to Joann’s for solid fabrics and last night as I got caught up on The Stitch TV Show I started sewing the first block together. Everything was cut out with my Studio and my 2″ square die (the original pattern calls for 1.5″ squares), I am going to make 9 blocks and they measure about 27″ when put together. The hubby is VERY excited about this quilt and wants it finished as soon as I can get it done. There are 324 squares in each block and they are easy to put together. I webbed the rows as I put it together and then sewed row to row. This quilt is going to end up being almost 100 x 100, and I already told the hubby that it will be going out to be quilted. There’s a few longarmers in the guild that I can see if they have time available to quilt it. I certainly don’t need anything special, an all over design will be just fine.

star block 033116I started to cut out the squares for the next block tonight, I need to cut more background squares and then I can start putting it together. I should have another update soon! Linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday over at My Quilt Infatuation.

AccuQuilt Shopping

Studio Supplies 022316I couldn’t help myself recently when Accuquilt had a big sale on dies. I had already put some Studio mats in my cart and was on the fence on how badly I needed them – shipping can be a lot when the order isn’t much. Then I received an email that offered half off Studio dies! I decided to get the 2.5″ multiple die, I do have the Go die but there are an extra 3 squares on the Studio die, and the signature die. I made that runner for Valentine’s Day using it and there are a lot of designs I’ve seen lately using it so why not be able to cut more out at once? Hoping to be back soon with some finishes, I have 3 quilts just needing binding.

Valentine’s Finish!

Vday runner 3I managed to get this finished just in time for the Valentine’s holiday weekend! The whole thing was cut out with my Studio and was 100% fabrics from my stash. I saw the idea on one of my Facebook groups and knew I had to make it for our breakfast bar, besides I needed to get the Christmas one off! 🙂 It was easy piecing and pretty easy to quilt since I just did 1/4″ on either side of the seam lines. I ended up also doing an X inside the X because I felt it really needed it. Threw it in the washer and it came out of the dryer all nice and crinkly, just the way I like it.Vday runner 2

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict today.

Another Finish!

4 patch 012616I really wanted some mindless piecing this week and decided to make a scrap quilt from a design I did in EQ7. It’s just a mixture of small and large four patch blocks. I used a lot of 2.5″ squares, and used 1 and a half of a batik charm pack for the 4.5″ squares. I finished it up Sunday afternoon, but there were too many toys on the floor to get a picture. I wanted to get pictures yesterday but Alex somehow managed to catch strep throat and we spent all morning at the Dr’s and I just didn’t have the energy to do anything in the afternoon! I still need to find some backing and batting so this can be quilted, but it will make a nice quilt for in the trailer this summer. Unfortunately this hasn’t made a single dent in my 2.5″ square bin!!

Linking up to Linky Tuesday.

New Start

four patch quilt 012116So I finished a quilt this week, that means I can start a new one right? LOL. I have 2 small quilts sitting here basted and ready to be quilted and another that’s been quilted and just needs binding. Do I work on either of those today? Heck no! I start a new quilt that I designed in EQ recently. These are all the 2.5″ squares I need to do the 84 small 4-patches and I need to decide what I’m going to use for the 21 4-patches made from 4.5″ squares. I’m thinking I might use a charm pack I have sitting here, I’ll think about it for a while since I need to finish putting these together first. I pulled 108 white and 108 colored 2.5″ squares from the bins to put these together and would you believe that I had very few duplicates in the colored squares? The whites I don’t have a lot of, but I don’t mind duplicates in those since it’ll be spread out and they are white on white so the texture is all the same. Hoping to get all the small 4 patches done tonight while I watch the Cavs game – after the kids go to bed of course!

I’ve had the embroidery machine going all day stitching out some new lace designs I bought. It’ll be another banner/bunting for my etsy shop that I’d like to get posted tomorrow. The last design is on the machine now – for the fourth time! I think I need the machine needs a tune up, but I’d have to pay to have someone come to the house to do it, I can’t get it out of the room anymore! I need to do some research, maybe I can do it myself.

Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation – Needle and Thread Thursday.

Scrappy Finish

Scrappy 9 patch with hexi applique 122615I started working on this on November 21, 2013. Here it is 2 years later and I’ve finally completed the top! I don’t know why I have this aversion to finishing tops – I have a bunch that just need the borders and they’d be considered complete. This was based on a quilt I saw on either Facebook or Pinterest – who remembers now? – and I changed the applique part to hexies instead of whatever they had – I don’t even remember what it was now. I already know how I want to quilt this, I just have a few quilts that are getting quilted first. Everything was cut either on my Go or my Studio and I’m thrilled that I used up all these scraps! 517 2.5″ squares were used in this quilt and I will use a few more because I’m planning on putting some hexies on the border at some point. I might even wait until after it’s quilted since they will be appliquéd on anyway.

I pulled out a VERY old quilt from 2009 that I want to keep working on to get the top finished – again it just needs the borders finished. Hopefully I’ll have an update on it soon, I know it won’t be tonight because it needs 4 borders and the one I’m working on now is 1.5″ HST! I also might have some news to announce soon!

Another Finish!!

Red and White challenge front 121815
Red/White Challenge – Front

We had a red/white quilt challenge at guild and I managed to design, create, quilt, and finish it with a few days to spare!I loved creating this in EQ7 and couldn’t wait to start piecing it. That was the easy part! I knew when I was piecing it that I wanted to do “cross-hatching” through the checkerboard border and 1/4″ inside the seam lines on the center, but I had NO idea what I wanted to do with the quilting on the inner border with the hexies. It sat on my sewing table for a couple of weeks before I realized that my deadline was fast approaching. So I very slowly and carefully stitched in the background around each hexie diamond and flower, and in the center of each one. I added a quilted hexie in between the flowers too. It turned out so much better than I imagined! I haven’t finished very many quilts this year, but this one is definitely one that I am proud of, not only did I design the whole thing, but it the top was made entirely out of fabrics I had in the cupboard. I had to buy the backing which I also used on the binding and I think it sets it off. As I was sitting at my desk today I realized I have the perfect place to hang it – right above my desk! Will have to get something to use for hanging and get it up on the wall soon! The challenge is on-going and I might do another one for our next deadline in July, I have some more ideas floating around my head. Maybe a red work one that I can do on the embroidery machine. We will have all of these challenge quilts hanging in our quilt show next October and I will be entering it into the county fair as well.

Linked to Freemotion by the River.

Red and White challenge detail 121815
Red/White Challenge – Detail

Red and White challenge back 121815
Red/White Challenge – Back