Okay, one last Swoon post!

My Swoon quilt is finished finished now, so I need to post one more time to show the final product! Luckily, we had beautiful spring weather, so it wasn't hard to get some good pictures.





I'm sure it goes without saying, but I'm saying it: I used the Swoon pattern by Camille Roskelley to make this quilt. I started making it with the Swoon-along hosted by Katy/I'm a Ginger Monkey, but I quickly experienced some HST fatigue and took a loooong break. I added a patchwork border to make it a queen size.


 
The fabric is Hideaway by Lauren and Jessi Jung, and it is perfectly fussy cut-able.







 I was really motivated to finish the front when I saw the Scrappy Swoon quilt-along with the Hopeful Homemaker. I thought it would make the perfect back to my Swoon quilt. (Or is it the other way around? The jury is still out.) I added a grey border to make it the same size as the front. In case you're wondering--I ran out of one color grey, so one strip is a different color. We're calling it a design element.



I picked green and yellow for the star, because I had the most Hideaway scraps in those colors. I used low volume fabrics for the background. If you're looking for low-volume fabrics, keep an eye on Westwood Acres. She has listed some great bundles recently.



I sent this one out for long-arm quilting. Not something I've done often, but it turned out great. It's a splurge for sure, but I knew sending it out would greatly increase the chances of it getting done! Sarah has a great deal on her long-arming service for quilts made from Camille's patterns.




 I'm really proud of this quilt. It's one of my favorites!





And here it is looking all respectable on our guest room bed! (I suppose new shams are in order.)




And, because it fits the qualifications, I'm entering the back front Scrappy Swoon side in Ali's Emerald Quilt challenge! My quilt finishes at about 90x90.

 

Bloglovin

Giving Bloglovin a try to replace my Google reader! Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Scrappy Swoon!

I finished my Scrappy Swoon! I'm just posting a quick photo of the finished quilt tonight so I can link up to the party at Hopeful Homemaker. I added a grey border so it will fit a queen bed.




 More soon! I'm going to take some proper photos this weekend. Might even use my actual camera instead of my phone. Spoiler alert: I love it.

Date night quilt

Okay, it's kind of strange that we made a Date Night quilt for a children's charity, but that's what happened! This one is heading to My Very Own Blanket.



November (I know...) was my month for do. Good Stitches, and I asked my circle members to make blocks using the Date Night Quilt tutorial from Moda Bake Shop...



...using this color palette.

 
The tutorial makes 18-inch blocks, so it doesn't take many to make a good-size quilt.





I had one extra block, so I framed it and used it on the back.



I used a serpentine stitch for quilting, and bound it using this most excellent print from Bespoken. Glad to have this finished! And now...to bind my Swoon!

WIP Wednesday

I've had a motivation problem lately, and I began to suspect it had something to do with the disastrous state of my fabric stash.



Not perfect, but better! Also, I don't need to buy more fabric, ever. On to the WIP list!






Finished:

February do. Good Stitches blocks


Scrappy Trip blocks this month.

  Central Park shams



Working on some (long-overdue) shams for a friend to match these quilts. I have a few smaller pillows to go, but so far I've made these shams using the tutorial by Marueen Cracknell Handmade on the Art Gallery blog.

In progress

Swoon quilt!



My Swoon is due back from the long-armer tomorrow (!!!!!), so I'll just need to bind it. I'm using this yellow Dear Stella Garden Party Zig-Zag.


 dGS quilt


Just a few inches away from finishing up the binding on this one!!
 
Completed tops awaiting quilting:
None. Woo hoo!

To do:
Baby quilts
March do. Good Stitches Blocks
February That Stash Bee Blocks

March That Stash Bee Blocks

Lucky Stars blocks

Feathers Quilt
Half Moon Modern quilt borders
Tracey's French Kisses


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else is working on!

Bella Patchwork in Arcadia

aka "On Backing a Quilt with Minky"



 Marking another long-standing WIP off my list! I decided to back this one in double-sided Minky Fleece (and I skipped the batting). As much as I loved putting together the top of this quilt--Aradia is one of my favorite lines, I got to put some honey bun strips to use (!!), and Elizabeth's Bella Patchwork pattern is fabulous--I truly hated the quilt assembly process.


I confirmed my suspicions: Minky is e.v.i.l. I had a heck of a time basting this quilt, and as a result the quilting is pretty dreadful. The 60-inch-wide double-sided minky was not quite wide enough for this quilt (which finishes around 62x75), so I had to piece it together for the back, which left a big lumpy seam. I wasn't sure how hand-stitching the binding would go on a Minky-backed quilt, so I attempted attaching it by machine, and I'm just not very good at that!


Now. Despite my many grumbles, I can assure you that this will be the most-loved quilt in my house because, after all, Minky is crazy soft and cozy. I just won't rush to back another quilt in it any time soon.

Scrappy Swoon (brought to you by WIP Wednesday)

My major accomplishment this week (other than running a half-marathon...I like to casually drop that into conversation as frequently as possible...I may or may not be wearing my medal as I type) was finishing my Scrappy Swoon quilt back/top. It's going to become the other side of my Hideaway Swoon that will live on my guest bed, and I'm thinking this will be a truly reversible quilt.

 

Now, in the interest of keeping it real, I noticed a big oops after I pieced it together the first time. But, after some together time with my seam ripper (and perhaps a few naughty words), I got it sorted out.


 

My main objectives with this quilt were to bust through my leftover Hideaway fabric and create a back to my Swoon quilt. Dunzo and dunzo. Bonus: I'm pretty much in love with it. Now, it does need to grow a little bit to be big enough to back/front my Swoon quilt. I'm thinking I'll just slap a grey border on it, but I'm open to suggestions!!

Big thanks to Jennifer at the Hopeful Homemaker for the excellent Scrappy Swoon quilt-along!!

 I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday!

 

Monkey business

We love Luke's kindergarten teacher. She's going on maternity leave next week, despite my protestations. Her classroom theme is monkeys, so I made her a quilt using leftover bits I had on hand from this one.

 
 I put this quilt together using the Charm Squares Baby Quilt pattern on Sew Mama Sew.

 

The fabric (Hooty Hoot by Riley Blake) is well-suited to fussy cutting, so I was able to highlight some of the cute critters.

 
I even had enough fabric leftover to piece a back.


 Luke always likes to help me tape down my quilt backs for basting. This time, he did it himself while I was out of the room. His technique needs a little refining, but not too bad!

WIP Wednesday

It was a dark and stormy Wednesday...might as well do a WIP post before the power goes out!
 



Finished:


do. Good Stitches blocks for January. Warm/cool log cabins.


 That Stash Bee blocks for January (Birds in the Air tutorial from Nicole). She has some really cool layouts using these blocks (and no HSTs!!!).

In progress

Swoon quilt!

I added a border to make it a big and beautiful queen.

 
 I got a start on the Scrappy Swoon-Along with the Hopeful Homemaker for the back. I've just about talked myself into sending this one out for quilting, so I'm eager to get it done!

 dGS quilt
MUST FINISH.

Pixelated Heart quilt
I'm working on collecting some more low-volume fabrics before I can start on this. Have you seen the Text Me fabric swap on Flickr? I'm thinking that will help.


Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Arcadia Quilt

To do:
Baby quilts
January do. Good Stitches Blocks
January That Stash Bee Blocks
January Lucky Stars block
Feathers Quilt
Half Moon Modern quilt borders
Tracey's French Kisses


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else is working on!

Swoon quilt top: Now it's done.

We have throw-size quilts coming out the wazoo around here, but bed-size quilts? Not so much. One of my goals this year is to remedy that by making queen-size quilts for our bed and the guestroom. When I realized the Swoon quilt (which finishes at 80x80) was just a border shy of being a queen, I figured it was worth the extra effort.
 


And it really wasn't that much effort. I used a charm pack plus some extra 5-inch squares I cut from my leftover fabric to make a bright, scrappy border.



 I do love this fabric, with it's charming village scenes...





and cuckoo clocks. It's Hideaway by Lauren and Jessi Jung.




I'm really happy to be finished with this quilt top! I started it more than a year ago when Katy had her Swoon-along. It's  tempting to just slap a backing together to get this finished, but I'm going to jump aboard the Scrappy Swoon-Along to make a backing (and bust through some more of this fabric).

WIP Wednesday

I spent my sewing time this week working on my Swoon quilt. This has been a year-long WIP, so I'm excited to report some progress!

 



Finished:

Nothing. And that's okay.

In progress

Swoon quilt!

I really had to force myself to crank these out. It's the HSTs! The saving grace of these blocks is that they're 24-inches, so you don't have to make too many. (The fabric is Hideaway and the pattern is Swoon by Camille Roskelly.)

 
I'm so excited to have this quilt top finished! But now I'm thinking I'll add a border to make it a true queen size so it can go on our guest room bed. Also, I'm going to jump aboard the Scrappy Swoon-Along with the Hopeful Homemaker to make a back for this one, so it's not going to be a quick finish. (Have you seen her scrappy Swoon? Excellent.)

 dGS quilt
 
Yeah...haven't touched this yet. Soon!

Pixelated Heart quilt
I've fallen in love with the pixelated heart quilts going around (first with Jolene's, and then Kelly's, and now Amanda's has pushed me over the edge). Must make!


Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Arcadia Quilt

To do:
Baby quilts
January do. Good Stitches Blocks
January That Stash Bee Blocks
January Lucky Stars block Feathers Quilt
Half Moon Modern quilt borders
Tracey's French Kisses


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

After a long break from my sewing machine, I seem to have rediscovered a bit of my sew-jo. Let's celebrate with a WIP post!

 



Finished:


Practice block for the Lucky Stars BOM with Elizabeth/Don't Call Me Betsy.

In progress

dGS quilt
 
Top done...I'm going to try to finish this up this weekend.

Swoon quilt!
 
I finished 3 of these blocks in January 2012 and 3 in January 2013. Let's hope I don't wait until 2014 to make the final 3!

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Arcadia Quilt

To do:
Baby quilts
January do. Good Stitches Blocks
January That Stash Bee Blocks
January Lucky Stars block Feathers Quilt
Half Moon Modern quilt borders
Swoon
Tracey's French Kisses


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else is working on!