FAL: The Plans for Q3

Whenever I write these posts about what I want to finish each quarter, I like to think about what I'll be doing at that time of year. The third quarter ends in September, so hopefully we will be well into harvest. Autumn is easily my favorite season. With the warm days and cool nights, the sounds of combines in the fields, and brilliant colors all around, you really can't beat it! 

So what will I accomplish over the next three months? Here's the plan:

We'll start off with the three rollovers from last time...

1. Hometown Road to Tennessee: I pulled this one out the other day and actually finished piecing the top. It is kind of an odd size, though, so I may end up adding borders or something. It has been about 2 years since I started this one, so I would love to finally get it done!

2. Stacked Squares: No progress (and apparently no picture, either) but I'm ready for this one to move on!


3. Diamond Ripples: No progress, but I do have the fabric that I need to finish the blocks, so I have no excuse!

4. Les Amis baby quilt: I salvaged a previous disaster and am hoping to get this finished for an old friend that is due with her first child next month.

5. Modern D9P: I actually just started this one a few days ago after an idea struck for a way to use up some of my charms. I participated in a few charm swaps last year and would rather use them than see them sitting in my drawer, so when inspiration struck I ran with it. Hopefully the enthusiasm continues and this will be a quick finish!


6. Scrappy Log Cabins: I made these two QAYG blocks with some of the scraps from the twin girl quilts I made at the beginning of the year. I would love to turn them into something, whether that be a baby quilt, machine cover, table runner...anything really. I like them too much to have them shoved in a drawer.


7. Modern Maples: I have all the pieces trimmed and ready to sew together. Hoping to get this one finished so we can enjoy it this fall! Thanks to Debbie for the motivation!


8. Holiday Sampler: I really can't remember what the real name for this one is supposed to be. I've got two of these cross-stitch projects that I haven't touched in months. I only have one more row to go on this one, so hopefully I can get it done before December. I plan to take it in the car with us when we go to Iowa next week, but that never seems to work out for me. Cell service is sketchy at mom and dad's though, so maybe I'll be able to stay off my phone and work on it!

So...8 projects. Go big, right? Thank you so much to Leanne for the motivation to actually finish some of these!

Stars Made with Flying Geese

 

I thought I would write up a quick post detailing the blocks I used to make Levi's quilt. Mostly for my own benefit since my trusty little notebook is always getting scribbled on by the kids. Try not to be blown away by the professionalism. I used two block sizes, 12.5" and 6.5" unfinished which are pretty standard dimensions. 

I used the no-waste method for my flying geese. You can find several tutorials for it with a friendly Google search, but the one I used is here. These are the requirements for a scrappy star using three different prints within the block. If you wanted the star to be all one print, use the same one for B and C.

6.5” Blocks:

Fabric A: (1) 4.25” square for the flying geese

                   (4) 2” squares for the block corners

Fabric B: (4) 2 3/8” squares for the flying geese

Fabric C: (1) 3.5” square for the star center

12.5” Blocks:

Fabric A: (1) 7.25” square for the flying geese

                   (4) 3.5” squares for the block corners

Fabric B: (4) 3 7/8” squares for the flying geese

Fabric C: (1) 6.5” square for the star center

 

So there you go. Make sense?

Levi's Quilt & a Minor Freak-out

 

Roger's brother and his wife recently welcomed their third child into the world. so naturally a quilt had to be made. Levi is their third son, bringing the grand total of Lovelady boys in this county to 6. They won't go to to the same elementary school as our kids, but our high school better be prepared! 

 

I comment quite a bit that I love star quilts, but that I don't enjoy making them. This is true, but making the star points out of no-waste flying geese rather than stitch-and flip points is much more enjoyable for me. I'll do another little post with my block dimensions for anyone interested. 

Levi's quilt was very much inspired by this quilt by Allison of Cluck, Cluck, Sew. I left the quilting pretty simple with a diagonal crosshatch and a little outline of the diamonds between stars. And this leads to the freak-out...

 

For most of my quilting I don't bother with actually marking the lines but this time I needed to. I know lots of people use Hera markers and love them and I'm sure that I would, too, if I ever remembered to buy one. So the last three quilts that have been marked have gotten the Crayola treatment. And two out of three have washed out with no issues whatsoever. I thought that it had worked on Levi's quilt, too, until I inspected a little closer. See that pink line up there? I used a dark grey marker on the quilt, but this pink residual line was only left on these two prints. It had already gone through the dryer when I noticed it, so I sprayed it with an OxyClean laundry spray, then ran it through a soak cycle in the washer with a little powdered OxyClean thrown in for good measure. Thankfully it all came out because I didn't have much time before we were taking it over to see him! 

 

I was feeling the love for Denyse Schmidt with my backing and binding choices, wasn't I? I would say the vast majority of my stash basics come from either her, Lizzy House, or Riley Blake. What about you?

ETA: After a few comments, I thought it might be best to stress the fact that I used a Crayola washable marker to mark the quilt, not a crayon.

Max's Quilt and Q2 FAL Update

I remember writing the post detailing my plans for the 2nd quarter of the Finish-A-Long, and remarking that July seemed so far off. Well, it's here even if our weather doesn't seem like it! We have had so much rain lately, and today I think our high is only supposed to be about 75. A drastic change from last summer with no rain to be found and record highs! You'll not hear me complaining though.

So, how did I fare this quarter? I had seven projects on my list and am pleased to report that I finished four of them! I think that I had commented to several people that if I had finished two I would be happy, so four is fabulous! 

1. Max's Quilt: One of the quilts that I finished was for Max, though I haven't taken any real pictures of it. It is simple patchwork of green and yellow squares to match his brothers' quilts. I added a few orange fabrics into Max's and I think it kind of gives it more of a 70's vibe than what I was really going for. I backed it in a simple blue flat sheet. Super easy backing, especially since my kids won't use flat sheets on their beds. Weirdos.

2. Chicopee Herringbone: I'm so pleased with this finish, thanks to the help of my Always Bee Learning friends. I seriously use this quilt almost every day and don't let my kids use it!



3. Constellations, Baby: I believe that when I made my list, all I had left to finish on this one was the binding, so this was probably the easiest finish! Still looking for a home for this one, but I do love seeing it all folded up in my cabinet.



4. Imagination, Squared: Another fun finish for the Imagine Circle of dGS, I shipped this beauty off to Threading Hope last week.

So, 4 out of 7....not too shabby! I suppose the other three will find their way onto my 3rd quarter list. Now I need to go digging around and see what else I can put on there!

Random....Friday?

Anyone else awful at remembering what day it is? I have good intentions of doing a random post on Thursdays to link up with Cindy, but it never seems to happen because I never know what day it is.
And really, that isn't such a bad thing in the summer, is it? So, here's a random post complete with random pictures that don't necessarily go with the text...

Almost walking

I have done absolutely no sewing in the last week or more and it's starting to make me twitch. My machines are ready to be picked up but I really want to get my house painted before I go get them, or it may never get done. Side note: Why do paint colors always look better in the can than on my walls?

Do you read The Fabric Shopper? I just discovered it the other day, but it is a fun little website that features upcoming fabric lines, tutorials, and other neat bits from around the web.

Grapefruit margaritas are GOOD. (So is Shiner Bock. )

Do any of you have a rice cooker? I'm considering getting one but can't decide if it is worth it. I am horrible at making rice but love eating it. I've read that they are good at making oatmeal, too, which would be convenient because I'm not good at making that, either.

I'm really into making salads lately. They are so good for a quick lunch or pre-baseball snack. I'm pretty sure I could eat this Southwest Rice and Bean Salad every day and never get tired of it. This morning I made Corn and Chickpea Fiesta Salad and am excited to go try some. What's your favorite salad recipe?

 

I made Jill these shorts the other day and really want some in my size. They are the Oliver+S Puppet Show shorts and are so cute and quick to make. So far I've made three pairs and will definitely be making more. I got in a bit of a garment-sewing spree a few weeks ago and had fun making some little things for Jill. I have a hard time making myself buy her clothes when I go shopping because I see things and think that either I could make it myself, or everything I find is some hideous color/animal print.

And for the most random thing...any of my American friends self-employed and purchase your own health insurance? Have any wisdom to offer? To say that it is overwhelming is an understatement...

June Blocks

Hi guys!

All of the ladies who were queens in my bees for June posted their blocks early, so I was actually finished with this month's blocks at the end of May. And since I have a few house-related projects to tackle, I took my sewing machine in for maintenance. It really is amazing how much more I can get done around here when I know I can't sew! 

 

Debbie asked us to make these Modern Maple blocks in That Stash Bee. She asked for "leaf colors" on light solid or low-volume backgrounds. I had fun choosing fabrics for these blocks, and opted for two colors that I rarely seem to use. Since autumn is my absolute favorite time of the year, I have a feeling I will be making a quilt of my own with these blocks. 

 

Rachel was the quilter this month for the Imagine Circle of dGS. She asked us to make these Fractured Star blocks using black/white, cream, text, and teal. The tutorial for the star is a little more confusing than it needs to be, but in the end you get a pretty cool block. I'm excited to see this quilt come together! 

 

Celeste asked us to make these strip-pieced hexagons for June in Always Bee Learning. I was a little worried at first, but they turned out quite easy and quick to piece together! 

Imagination, Squared

Taking a quick break this afternoon while the kids are napping to share my latest finish for the Imagine Circle of Do Good Stitches. (Sidenote: Anyone know how to make the actual "squared" symbol?)

 In April, I asked the members of our circle to make this paper-pieced Square-in-Square block by Tamiko using a palette of navy, coral, yellow, aqua, and white/grey prints.  I was so excited when the blocks started coming in, because they were all so much fun. I didn't specifically request fussy cuts for the centers, but several people did just that and made some seriously cute blocks. Isn't this one from Amanda sweet?

 

I didn't take me long to get them all sewn together. I had originally planned to use this Ikea numbers print for the backing, but a few of the blocks came in too small to fit well with the others. Since that would have made our quilt a little smaller than desired, I went ahead and decided to add the borders to bring it up to a better size. I really could not decide on what to use, but chose to go with the Ikea fabric. I still haven't decided if it was the right call, but it is growing on me. 

 

I thought that using more of the numbers print would be a little much, so for the backing I used the other blocks along with quite a few of the greys in my stash, plus some Kona Azure, Kona Ochre, and the coral which I believe is Michael Miller. It is pretty wrinkly in the photo, but I didn't have time to really get it photo-shoot ready. I have to take my pictures when the resident quilt-holder is available and this time of year, that is pretty rare!  

For the quilting, I thought it would be cool to highlight one of the blocks and the surrounding star shape. I had a hard time choosing, but in the end decided to focus on the Itsy Bitsy Spider block because I thought the surrounding prints made the star pattern stand out a little more than the others. I quilted double lines around the star, then echo-quilted single line a few inches apart in the rest of the space. It didn't really turn out as I had hoped, since the front is busy and the quilting kind of gets lost. 

Overall, I'm pleased with how the quilt turned out. This is my third one for the Imagine Circle and I am already plotting what to do for my fourth. If you have any spare time to join, I highly recommend putting your name on the list for do.Good Stitches. I'll be sending this one off to our charity, Threading Hope, which benefits underprivileged children and families around the world.