WIP Wednesday

Back in action! I had a great Memorial Day weekend, with more time at the pool than behind the sewing machine (I have the sunburn to prove it) but I made a bit of progress.



Finished:
hmm...nada

Ongoing projects:

City Weekends charm quilt for Craft Hope project 13


"Someone finish my binding!"

Kaleidoscope Quilt-Along with Don't Call Me Betsy




Of course I'm in! I'm excited about this one, and I'm thinking I may use it as my excuse to pick up some Loulouthi. Head to Elizabeth's blog for the details. She just announced it today, so there's plenty of time to join.



Completed tops awaiting quilting:


Houndstooth quilt
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm? Hand quilt?)

To do:
June blocks for do. Good Stitches
Central Park quilts
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13
Deer quilt


We're linking up at Elizabeth's this week, so head over to see what everyone is working on.

Yes!

Houndstooth quilt top...finished!



Of course, the blocks I sewed on backwards are screaming at me now.

Any thoughts on how I should quilt this??

(Pattern from V and Co)

Houndstooth in progress

I was hoping to have this quilt top finished this weekend, but it's proving--ahem--tedious.

A winner! And a public service announcement

Thanks to everyone who entered my Hideaway giveaway! The lucky winner is #490!















And that's Sadie from Scotland!








(It says 90, but my comment counter resets at 200.)
Congrats, Sadie! You should have an e-mail from me.

Now, for my public service announcement. Lots of you said you'd never heard of Hideaway. It is getting a little hard to find. There is a decent amount available on Etsy, as well as some precuts here. So if you're in the market for some, I'd go ahead and scoop it up soon!

WIP Wednesday

If you're here for my Sew Mama Sew giveaway, scroll down to the next post!

It's Wednesday! I managed to get a bit done in between all of the giveaway surfing.



Finished:

Modern Sliced Scrappy Quilt for do. Good Stitches

More on this here.

Teacher gifts


Luke's teachers are getting these little zippered pouches made using the Gathered Clutch tutorial from Noodlehead. I put a gift card inside. Done!


I had fun making these. You can see the linings in this photo. I had trouble getting the top corners (beside the zipper) to behave. Any tips?



Ongoing projects:

City Weekends charm quilt for Craft Hope project 13
just needs binding.


And...

crickets....

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm? Hand quilt?)

To do:
June blocks for do. Good Stitches
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13
Houndstooth quilt (this one is getting bumped up)
Deer quilt


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else has going on.

Giveaway Day!!!

Hi there! Happy Giveaway Day! Let's get right to the good stuff.


I have accumulated quite the stash of my beloved Hideaway fabric, so I'm sharing some with one lucky winner. (Don't worry--I'm leaving more than enough for myself.)


Up for grabs: a charm pack of Hideaway and the 5 fat quarters you see here.

Want to win? Just leave a comment on this post telling me where in the world you live. (And if you don't feel comfortable being specific, be general. Like I live in the right half of the U.S.) I'm happy to ship internationally. I'll close the giveaway on May 26 and pick a winner using Random Number Generator. Just make sure I have a way to contact you!!


Now, head back to Sew Mama Sew for more giveaway fun!

Modern Sliced Scrappy quilt for do.Good Stitches

Done! I know I've shown this quilt top to you many times, but I'm back now with the finished quilt!


Each member of the Peace Circle made two blocks using their own scraps an Elizabeth's tutorial. I put them together and quilted it using double random straight lines. Now, I have to say that I did a lot of thinking and research before I starting quilting. I know, that kind of goes against the whole random thing, but I tend to overthink (are the lines too random? not random enough? do I need more? etc.). I spent a lot of time looking at Ashley's quilts before starting, but I'm happy with the result. And my sewing machine was much more agreeable to the straight line thing this time.






I love all of the little details in this quilt, and I know the recipient will too.


I thought about using the leftover stripes from my Bottled Rainbows as binding, but I decided it might be a bit too much (not so much from the front but the back is a bit...busy. Stay tuned.). SO instead I went with this black-and-white polka dot from my stash. I tried machine stitching the binding for the first time! I love stitching binding by hand, and that will always be my default, but stitching it by machine is handy when you're in a hurry. I used this great tutorial from Emily at Mommy's Naptime--she presses the binding fabric in place instead of using pins (yay!). It worked very well, and I'll definitely use this method again.


I used white for my top thread and black in the bobbin so it would blend into the binding a little better. Looks pretty good!


For the back, I used this fun blue houndstooth print from Summer Soiree by Paula Prass. Mainly because I have a lot of it, but also because it looks fun. I added a little rainbow strip bordered by some Kona Coal.


I didn't have the right solids for all of the rainbow colors, so I used some prints too. (This is a particularly busy quilting intersection!)


Here it is--all ready to send off to My Very Own Blanket! It's an organization that provides quilts for children in foster care.

Thanks to Michelle, Lisa, Paula, Melissa, Allie, Meg, Naomi, Tanya, and Laura!

W.I.P. Wednesday

It's Wednesday. I've been a busy bee this week! My list is getting mighty short...



Finished:

May blocks for do. Good Stitches





Lisa asked for bright, colorful blocks. I hope she meant that, because I certainly took it to heart! We're making blocks using the Sugar Pop n Change block from Moda Bake Shop.

Tracey's block for the VIBees



Tracey asked for petal blocks. I remembered this block from Penny at Sew Take a Hike. She told me that the tulip template came from Material Obsession 2, so I picked up the book from the library.


Tracey is making a baby quilt, so I didn't want raw edges. I found this tutorial for using freezer paper for turned-edge appliqué. Very clever!

Angela's block for Sew Beautiful Bee

I've showed you this before, but it's in the mail, so it can officially come off the list. I'm pumped to mark all of my bee blocks off the list!

Charms for Japanese Import Charm Swap

Cut up and in the mail!

Ongoing projects:

Modern Sliced Scrappy Quilt for do. Good Stitches

I basted this tonight, so it's time to get started on the quilting! Maybe I'll finish this up this weekend.


Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm? Hand quilt?)

To do:
Blocks for do. Good Stitches
Tracey's VIBees block
Angela's Sew Beautiful Bee block
Cut up (and mail) charms for Japanese Import swap
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13
Houndstooth quilt
Deer quilt


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else has going on.

Wandering star

May is Angela's month for our Sew Beautiful Bee, and she asked each member to make a block that is "us." She sent us this excellent blue fabric to work with and asked us to add a bit from our own stashes. So, after some deep introspection and meditation about who I am, I decided, "Katie likes stars!" I've been on a bit of a star kick lately (I asked the members of my other bee to make star blocks for me), so I found a pattern for a Wandering Star block in this old copy of Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns, which I picked up from my work library when it closed a few years ago (and probably haven't cracked open since).




This is a fine book, but it makes me realize how spoiled I am by all of the photo-heavy, step-by-step, super detailed online tutorials. This book was all: "Here's some templates. Cut out the fabric and sew them together." Did I mention that the block has set-in seams? Honestly, I didn't know what set-in seams were before I put together this block, but I figured out what I was doing (this explanation helped) and got some practice!


I hope you like it, Angela! (Eek, I'm nervous!) Now, I have to admit the block is not perfect. I lost one of my star points when I squared up my block (ouch), and the set-in seams could be better. But I'm hoping what the block lacks in perfection it makes up for in likability. (Hey, maybe this block IS me!)

Perhaps I should've just made a block with the word "DORK" on it...

Extreme Orange! (Bloggers’ Quilt Festival)

Yay! It’s time for the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side! I’m so glad Blogger decided to cooperate so we can get on with the festivities.

Today I’m featuring my orange dirt bike quilt. (That’s right—a dirt bike quilt.) Margaret’s Hope Chest has a project called Wrapped in Hope, and they’re providing birthday quilts for children who have parents in prison. I signed up to make a quilt for Dresden (with that name he’s sure to appreciate quilts, right?). He’s turning 3 this month, and he requested a quilt featuring dirt bikes and the color orange. This must be a cool kid.

After a few moments of head-scratching (not much dirt bike fabric in my stash! Okay, not any!) I remembered this quilt by Rebecca of Chasing Cottons and knew that the Michael Miller Extreme Team fabric would be just right for this quilt.

So, after some thinking and sketching, I came up with this plan…



Which became this quilt.





I didn’t want to cut up that main panel, so I decided to frame it out with orange and black, and then added patchwork squares surrounding it.


I just bought a few fat quarters of the Extreme Team fabric, so I added some Kona Tangerine, Ash, and Aqua to the mix. I pulled out the aqua color from the puzzle print. I used Kona Black for the binding.


My favorite part (and I think it just might be Dresden’s favorite too) is the road, which was a last-minute addition to the plan. In this picture, you can see that I quilted in gray thread in the blocky meandering stitch. I think it gives the road kind of an asphalt look.


I wanted to continue the road theme on the back, so I added an intersection. I can just see Dresden spreading this out on the floor and driving his cars up and down the road. I filled out the back with Tangerine and Aqua yardage (and a bit of Ash when I came up short).

I’m excited to send this quilt off to its new home! (My 3-year-old son—not so excited to see this one go.)

Now head over to Amy’s blog to see lots (and LOTS) of more quilts on parade!

W.I.P. Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Kick it!



Finished:

Bottled Rainbows

Done! I loved working on this project, but I'm glad to have my scraps once again contained in my scrap bin. They were starting to take over my living room.

Dirt bike quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest
Done! In the washing machine as I type. I'm saving this for Bloggers' Quilt Fest, so come back on Friday to see the finished quilt.

Ongoing projects:

Modern Sliced Scrappy Quilt for do. Good Stitches

I need to figure out a backing plan, and then on to the quilting.


Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm?)

To do:
Blocks for do. Good Stitches
Tracey's VIBees block
Angela's Sew Beautiful Bee block (Got a start on this one tonight, and then I got to the set-in seams and got a wee bit nervous. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow.)
Cut up (and mail) charms for Japanese Import swap
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13Houndstooth quilt
Deer quilt


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else has going on.

Modern Sliced Scrappy quilt top

I'm hosting the recently formed Peace Circle for do. Good Stitches, and I'm in the process of putting our first quilt together. We'll be making a quilt each month for My Very Own Blanket, an organization that provides handmade blankets for kids in foster care.


I asked my bee members to make blocks using Elizabeth's Modern Sliced Scrappy block tutorial. Each bee member makes two blocks using fabric from her own stash. The blocks came to me from near and far, and I put the quilt top together last night.


I'm so excited to get this quilt put together!

So...I need help deciding how to quilt this. This is always the hardest decision for me. Any thoughts?

Craft Hope Project 13!

The new Craft Hope project is collecting handmade blankets for tornado survivors in the Southeastern U.S. Find out all the details here, and help if you can!

Rainbow-tastic!

I finished my Bottled Rainbows quilt, and we took it on location for a photo shoot. (Yes, there were other people at this location. Yes, they looked at me like I was nuts.)


I was worried that the precariously draped quilt would fall in the water. I was more concerned that I would fall in the water. We both left dry!


I used particularly rainbowy prints from Ann Kelle's Remix for the backing and binding. (Thanks for pointing me in this direction, Elizabeth!) I love the 1980s feel of that line.


I loved the quilt-as-you go angle of this project. It's something I'll try more of in the future.


This was billed as a leisurely quilt-along, but I quickly got addicted to putting the blocks together.


I asked Luke to name our donkey, and he decided on Diego. I like it (and I'm surprised he didn't choose Batman). You can kind of see the quilting in this photo. I tried to quilt lines on either side of the seams, but the bulky intersections gave me too much trouble. I ripped that out and attached the blocks to the backing by quilting around the scrappy center. Hope that's enough!


I considered cutting these stripes on the bias, but I ended up deciding against it. Still second-guessing that decision.


My patient photo assistant

Definitely check out Rachel's quilt-along if you're in the market for a scrappy project!