busy busy

Things at school have been SO busy lately! I haven't been able to sew much, I did a little over the weekend, but nothing I can share yet (nothing finished :/) but I have this one picture I have to share!

Pepé was in my medium strings bin when I came back from running some errands!!! He's too cute! (it helps me fit more in there ;) )

Green & brown quilt laid out

Generally when I am making a quilt I try to make as many of the blocks as possible before I lay them out, but I was SO excited about this, that I just had to lay it out to see how it's looking.

And I am just in love with it!!!  You can see in the bottom right corner I didn't have quite enough blocks yet.  I had thought about adding a border, but right now it's just about the same size as my backing I have planned for it.

I am linking up to design wall Monday

String top

I finished my first string top!! I am SO excited!! I have wanted to make a full string quilt for a while (I started one a few years ago, but still haven't finished it).

I loved the piecing of it.  I talked about it here (in January! where does the time go?!) I also love that you can use whatever, I pulled things out of my strings bins without caring whether it matched or how it looked.

I definitely underestimated the number of blue strips I would need, luckily I found another that was close enough.  I love the way it looks with the blue in the middle, but it was tough making sure it was centered!

I saw this picture (the picture is a link and takes you to the blog it is from) floating around pinterest and the blog world, so I decided I wanted to do that with my string quilt.  I did mine a little different though.  I chose to do the darks in place of the lights and lights for darks for the sashing.  It definitely changes the look, I think it's quite a bit more scrappy looking.  I pulled anything and everything out of my 1.5" bin to make this, great way to use up some of those scraps!

I showed this off at my sewing day.  I realized that it's quite a bit longer, but not as wide.  SO I think I will be adding another row down the side.  IT'S SO SCRAPPY!!! I love it!

September swap

This is the block I made for Janet.  She wanted a scrappy trips around the world block.  She said she wanted bright happy mix of solids and prints (I don't have much in the way of solids).

I was able to go through my 2.5" bin and pull out some bright fabrics

After sewing the long strips I cut them at 2.5" and then seam ripped one seam.  And this is what I came up with:

Now I haven't made one of these quilts, I have been "scared" to, wondering how it would turn out.  But this was fairly easy.  So I think I might end up making one of these!! But it will be on my long list of quilts I want to make.  I think this is the second quilt block I have done for block swap adventure that I have wanted to make myself!!! This swap is becoming dangerous ;)

I had some extra strips so I made this block for me.  I guess I am one step done to making myself a scrappy trips around the world quilt :)

And here is the adorable kitty she sent me.  (The background isn't that pink!)

Goals check in - october

Time to check in and see how I am doing on my goals for the year.

1. Post 100 times - I am at 92 right now!! I think I have this one! I am glad I did it, it really forces me to make sure I was posting.  I really like being able to go through and see the progress of my projects, it shows me where I have come from, and all that I have done.

2. Finish 7 quilts.  Well I have two (which I have mentioned the kitty quilt, and the quilt for my father in law).  I have three flimsies done.  Plus I am working on one.

3. I have tried a string quilt, which is new to me, I did rootbeer & bubble gum (in my own colors), and I would still like to try my tumblers quilt!

Sewing day - what I did

Well I kind of slacked on picture taking this weekend!! (I did spend most of my time sewing ;) )

I finished some bow tie blocks. 

I started some small (5") blocks, but I didn't get pictures! I sure loved how they looked up on the design wall!

I finished a top!! (no pictures until after Christmas :( sorry!)

I laid out a few things to get ideas. It was just so inspiring. I loved hanging out with "my kind of people"!!!

I love being to follow more quilters because they have such GREAT ideas.  I also love having people comment, because I love getting help and ideas from other quilters!