Coldpocolypse 2014

WOW!!!! We are going to have another 2 days of no school this week!!

I am going to spend these two days sewing.  I have a project I really really want to get finished that I cannot share pictures of just yet. 

I spent some time cleaning up my sewing room first. These drawers ended up being a catch all for everything! So I've cleaned them out and each drawer has one project in it now. :)

More later I'm going to sew. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

I kind of did this last year, but I am going to be a lot better about participating this year!! I decided I would do a churn dash pattern, it's something I have wanted to do for a while, so this is a good way for me to make a quilt I've wanted to do and use up those scraps!

January's color is blue.  I think I am going to make 3 blocks each month.

Here are my three blocks. I found some neutrals I've had (I don't think I had enough of one neutral to do a whole quilt top) that little mermaid print I've had forever. I needed to cut it up and use it. 

Celtic solstice clue #4

Four patches.

Pretty simple!  I love having a scrap system, I was able to go to my strip bin and just pull out fabrics for this!!

I only have about 40 of these finished, I have some twosies that need to be sewn into the full 4 patches.

You can click the "celtic solstice" tag and see all my other posts :)

I am linking up to Bonnie's linkup here

Celtic solstice clue #2

Chevrons!!

I have almost 100 done!!! They were tedious but are SO cute!

I have started on parts of the other clues, but I like to have a majority of this done before I move on to the next one.

Block Swap

Here is a recent block I have received from my partner!

Sewpocolypse 2014 day 3

I had a great time sewing the past three days. 

For a project I'm working on (that I can't share just yet) I had to trim some HST (half square triangles). I have about 1/3 of the top put together, but I ran out of red!! I will get more when it's thawed out a little. 

Mini nine patches!! Whoa buddy were those a lot of work!!

And I've been working on bits and pieces of the Celtic solstice mystery. 

I would sew a bunch then take a break and press a bunch :)

It's been awesome!!!

*EDITED TO ADD*

I just found out that I get another day!!!  Woohoo!!!!

Huskers

Huskers Quilt finish #3 of the year.

 I loved being able to use the massive design wall!!

It's kind of hard to see here, but this is a (Nebraska) huskers quilt. I made it for a good friends husband.   I was so excited about this.  I found the white, the check and the huskers all in the remnants bin at Jo-Ann's.  The White is Kona snow white.

Here is a closer up picture of it.  I used a solid red binding and Huskers fleece on the back.  To quilt it I did a straight stitch through the white squares (on the diagonal) then crossed about half of them.  It turned out real nice, and was quite appreciated.

Recap 2013 & goals for 2014

About a year ago I set up 3 goals for myself.

1. Post 100 times.  I posted 102! Just barely made it in!  The first trimester at school was a killer, I barely had any free time to myself!

2. Finish 7 quilts.  I did not get that done :( I finished 4 (full) quilts by the end of the year.  I have 3 tops that are done and one that is almost finished.  It is definitely because of not being able to use the long arm.  I LOVE long arming.  And quilting on a sewing machine is just not the same for me.

3. Try three different/new to me patterns.  I made rootbeer & bubble gum which had a modified Ohio star and a string quilt.  So only two new ones.

I am not sure what my goals for 2014 should be.  I would definitely like to be more present in the blogosphere.  I do know part of my struggle with this is time, it's not always the easiest when I am only on a PC for school.

1. Post in my blog 7 times a month.

2. Finish 2 quilts on my home machine that isn't just straight stitching.

3. Finish 5 UFOs.

We will see how things end up going!

Sewing…

Sewing up a storm. While there's a storm outside!! 

And of course I can't sew without my helper girl :)

I plan on writing a real post tonight as a review of 2013 and what I got done. But for now I sew :)

Celtic Solstice Clue #1 half way there!

 

I have started clue #1!! Using the tri recs ruler, which I got on a good sale at Jo-Ann's after Thanksgiving.

I am not in love with any of them yet. . .All the scrappy-ness is kind of blowing my mind, but I know it will turn out awesome, as do all my scrappy quilts.

I am about 90% done with the purple centers.  The neutrals about 50%!

Celtic solstice - my colors

I didn't end up doing Easy street this year like I had originally wanted to do.  But I am doing Celtic Solstice.  And even though I haven't had enough time to be in my sewing room much, I have managed to find enough time to start and have a good start on this quilt!

Bonnies colors were Neutrals, Yellow/gold, oranges, greens & blues.  I do not have a lot of yellow/gold or oranges, so I have changed my colors.

My neutrals will be neutral.
My yellow/gold will be pink
My oranges will be purple
My greens will be greens
My blues will be blues.

Although I don't have much in the way of neutrals!  I will have to see if I can find some remnants at Jo-Ann's.

More later!! I am going to sew some!

Heart block

I love this quilt block.  I was recently browsing and found this lovely quilt block.  It was not posted with a pattern because it was on a quilt block a day (for a year) calendar (what?! why haven't I gotten this?!)  So I had some math to do on my own.  I decided to use HST for the bottom, so that was fun to figure out the math!

No sewing. . .

I have been very busy with school, and when I finally go to my sewing room I just sit there.  Last night I cleaned up a little bit. But I sat in my room looking at my (lovely) fabric (and I even got SO much more on black Friday) and I just feel overwhelmed, I didn't know what to do.  Things have been so crazy I don't think I will have time to machine quilt all the Christmas quilts that I have to do. (long arming is no big deal, and I definitely prefer that to machine quilting!).  But where I have used the long arm had a fire, so they no longer have a machine I can use :(

I participated in a Kate Spain 5" block (charm/nickel whatever you want to call it).  And I think I have decided what I will do with that.  That definitely has helped my motivation, but then school gets in the way!

So here is to having some time to sew over Winter break!!!

November Goals

I haven't posted in a while.  I am sorry about that.  I haven't done much.  School and life have been real crazy.  And when I get the chance to sew, I don't take it.  I thought about why last night.  Right now I have four quilt tops done.  BUT I don't have the motivation to finish them.  I think it's because
I no longer have access to a long arm machine.  The quilt shop where I used to rent my machine had a fire, they are finally back open again, but the long arm machine isn't there anymore.

After using a long arm machine, I don't want to use anything else!! laying out a quilt, pinning/safety pinning it, then fighting with it through the machine, it's so much work! I feel it's so much more work than using the long arm.  I just need to suck it up though, since I have 4 quilts to finish by Christmas!

Going through my goals. . .

1. Post 100 times.  This is post 98! I think I will be ok on this one, I have plenty to talk about once I finish these quilts!!

2. Finish 7 quilts.  Well I have finished 2.  And as I said above I have 4 tops that are done, 1 I am working on.  So that would be my 7.

3. This one hasn't changed, and won't change, unless I can find time to work on my tumblers! 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!

I am going to try to spend as much time as possible in my sewing room next week, it's the start of the trimester, so things should be a little slower in the grading department.  Maybe I can whip out one finished quilt.  Then I probably won't have a lot of time to sew until after Thanksgiving.  We aren't going to DC to spend it with my friend, because she has been deployed, so we will go visit my family, which means no time for sewing!

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!