Sporty

I can hardly call this past year a year of quilting. Actually, I can't at all. I have barely done any! The sports quilt I promised my father for Christmas LAST year is a perfect example of this. Until last week, I only had about half of the blocks done. Sad, but true.

Last week I decided to really get in gear and focus on wrapping this thing up. I spent an evening sewing the pieces together while my husband won Husband of the Year for pressing the seams. The help was so amazing and made these surprisingly time consuming blocks move along much more quickly. So here you have it, a stack of 63 blocks made with colors of my dad's favorite Detroit sports teams.

Now I'm off sewing the blocks together and will hopefully be able to finish this! Wouldn't that be exciting?

This is love

The Bible says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us."  If quilting had a Bible, it would say "We know what real love is when we receive handmade quilts using multiple, non-coordinating licensed prints."


This quilt attests to the fact that I love my dad.  He requested a quilt showcasing all of the Detroit sports teams (except the Red Wings).  If you are not from the Detroit area, let me show you what this entails.  They don't match at all!

And it translates to this with licensed prints (the Tigers don't have licensed cotton prints).

After some serious procrastinating I had a conversation with Julie who suggested using solids only - brilliant!  I saw this photo on Flickr, which is actually quite similar to the rough idea I had in mind already, so I went with it.

I now present you round 1 - Detroit Lions blocks.

I think they actually look pretty good!  We'll see how this goes once the other three color groups are mixed in.

How to Maintain a Boring Blog

I often have mental goals of where I would like to be on a project when I plan posts.  Unfortunately, since things always take longer than I hope, this tends to lead to a boring blog.  For example, I currently have 8 blocks completed for the Toyko subway quilt and have been holding off posting until I have 9 for awhile now.  I just wanted to have the nice completed square!  So here you have it - the 8 finished blocks!

I'm loving how this looks.  It's so geometric and me.  :)  It's a shame these blocks are so time consuming.  It really makes it difficult to gain motivation and momentum to finish this quilt.  I had a goal to finish one a week that I was able to meet a couple weeks, but then I fell off the bandwagon.  I have 8 of 25 done - not even halfway there.  Sadness.

Hexagons, hexagons, hexagons

It has been awhile since I had an update on my hexagon quilt.  After making a significant amount of progress in our travels to and from Hawaii, I lost a bit of steam on the project.  I tend to only work on my hexagons in the car, and since we haven't done a lot of traveling lately, my quilt has been a bit neglected.  There has been some progress to report though.

I have 154 sewn together.

I have 17 flowers sewn together waiting to be added to the others.

And 1072 total hexagons completed!

New Projects

I love starting new projects.  I love looking at a stack of fresh fabrics.  I love sitting down and figuring out the pattern.  I love math required to figure out how everything is going to come together.  I love when I can begin cutting the pieces and laying them out together.  I really love quilting.

To finish or not to finish

I have been contemplating whether or not to make more blocks for my spiderweb quilt.  In its current state, the quilt is 5 blocks by 6 blocks.  This makes it roughly 50" x 60".

Please excuse this horrible photo.  My condo has terrible natural lighting
and on top of that, it's dreary and snowing outside.  Sadness.

The plan is to make the quilt a lap quilt to give as a gift.  I typically like a generous lap size quilt, which this is.  However, it's really only a one person lap quilt.   If I add 2 more rows of blocks, it would make the quilt roughly 60"x70".  That would make it a better two person snuggle quilt.  It would also require me to make 12 more blocks.  Although I do enjoy making these blocks, I'm not sure I have 12 more in me.  That's a lot!

So, here is my question to you: what size do you make your lap quilts?  Would you call it quits now and finish it up?  Would you keep going?

Wordless/Work in Progress Wednesday

I must like ambitious projects

I have a knack for finding ambitious projects and deciding that I must tackle it as well.  The latest of these is the Tokyo Subway Map quilt posted by Oh Fransson.  It is just so wonderfully striking.

Over the past week or so I have sifted through my scrap bins and stash to cut all of my colored squares.  It was not a small feat.  It requires 624 patterned pieces, 85 colored solids, and 891 white squares (which I have not finished cutting).

They look so pretty all lined up!  I had a difficult time deciding on the light and dark blues and greens.  I found my stash was full of plenty of blues and greens of not only various values but also simply different shades.  A lot of my "dark" greens looked pretty terrible together.  I sorted and sorted, rearranged again and again, until I finally put them all aside.  Eventually, I did get it all worked out with some help with of a wonderfully patient friend.  It's amazing how much a new set of much more talented eyes can help.

After I had temporarily given up on the blues and greens, I decided to just make a block that didn't require any of those colors.  I needed to see a little progress after so much cutting and sorting.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this quilt!

Trial Quilt

My sister-in-law asked me to make a quilt for her nursery.  I bought the fabric awhile ago but have been mulling ideas around for the pattern.  I had an idea that I thought might look good, but I was a little unsure.  I decided I would make a trial run with the pattern and see how it went.

I think it went pretty well!  I'm a fan!  I'm really happy with the colors too- so bright and cheery.

Unfortunately, the pattern highlighted my inability to sew that perfect 1/4" seam.  I  usually sew with a scant 1/4" seam because I figure I might as well make it a little smaller and trim my blocks down to size.  Not really thinking this through, I cut the solid pieces at the top and bottom first, and they ended up shorter than the following two rows.  For the center patchwork section I decided I was going to really try to sew that 1/4" seam properly.  I even pulled out the 1/4" foot.  I was serious.  So I went along sewing away- even measuring occasionally.  Somewhere along the way something went awry and that patchwork section ended up smaller than the top pieces.  Apparently I need some additional practice. 

All in all, I think it turned out pretty nicely.  Even if it is narrower than I had planned!

Hexagon Update :: Travel Report

Traveling to Hawaii was good for my hexagons!  

I made 185 hexagons...

... and 16 flowers.

I have been admiring how they look laid out like this.  I think they look great! 

On a side note, does anyone else feel awkward about admitting they think something they made looks great?  It makes me feel self-focused and awkward.  I don't know why.  I know it's ok if I think I did something well, but there is this voice inside telling me I shouldn't.

 Don't they look so cute all stacked up together?

July is for me

July is my month for both of my quilting bees. You see, I planned it this way since I am leaving for vacation on Wednesday for 13 days.

Since I am lazy, I decided to have both bees make the same thing for me- scrappy spiderweb blocks.

I'd like to make this one a big quilt. I think it would make a nice picnic blanket. I really enjoyed making these two blocks. I think they come together pretty quickly. Or maybe since I can just see the progress so well all along I feel really productive. Whatever the reason, I really like them.

On a separate note, last week my demo version of Adobe Lightroom expired and I'm really missing it. So sad for my photos. :(

Goodies

Since I don't have over 1100 different fabrics in my stash to use to make the hexagon charm quilt, I have been participating in some charm pack swaps.  My packages have been slowly trickling in.  Even some surprise squares from my mother-in-law!  Yay!  When we went to visit my Shawn's parents over Memorial Day, my mother-in-law started her own hexagon quilt as well. 

I also started piecing together some of my hexagons.  I want to be able to mix piecing the hexagons and making them so I don't become burnt out by one or the other. 

Now that I'm seeing how the one color looks, I'm second guessing my choice.  This photo doesn't really make them look very attractive in general though.  Note to self:  find a better way to photograph pieced hexagons.

Instead of doing the color wave approach, maybe I do want a more random layout more like this.  Or maybe this.  I don't know.  What do you think?  I think I may go back to making hexagons and revisit this issue later.

Road Trip Ready

When I know I have long drives ahead of me, I like to be prepared with a quilt binding ready for hand stitching.  It's a nice way to pass time and still feel productive.  This weekend Shawn and I are traveling to visiting his parent's in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  That means we're in the car for 6.5 hours each way this weekend.  Unfortunately, I am fresh out of quilts that are close to binding since I have traveled nearly every weekend this month.  What's a girl to do?!

It looks like it is hexagons to the rescue.  This should keep me busy for awhile!

Diversion

Today, this is what I should have been working on:

Instead, this is what I accomplished:

Sometimes, I just reach my disorganization breaking point and things just need to be addressed.  Today was one of those days.

Done- and it's so nice!

I'm done studying!  Yay!  I think it went all right, but I'll know for sure in 10-12 weeks.  Let's hope and pray that I don't have to go through that again!

Now that I don't have studying to do, this weekend was full of FUN stuff.  On Saturday I went fabric shopping with a friend, went to a bridal shower, and then Shawn and I spent the evening in downtown Detroit for a celebratory dinner.  It's restaurant week downtown so we were able to go to the 24 Grille without paying a fortune.  It was still on the pricey side, but it was a celebratory occasion so it's ok, right?  The food was incredible too.

Before going to dinner, Shawn and I walked around downtown for a bit.  Downtown Detroit is a pretty place- especially along the Detroit River.  The odd part of the evening was that the streets were empty.  I'm not sure if it were just because it was cold out or not.  I always think of Detroit as a "big city" but I think Ann Arbor has a busier downtown on a Saturday night.  It's kind of sad actually.  The city is full of big, beautiful buildings reminiscent of better times that are a stark contrast to the current condition of the city.  The restaurant was packed, but I suspect that it was mostly people like Shawn and myself- visitors from the suburbs. 

Yesterday I was able to get back to sewing.  So exciting!  I was able to finish up a top and I started quilting it.  

I am hoping to finish the quilting tonight.  I think that hope may fall into the unreasonable category, but I tend to be over ambitious with the amount of things I can accomplish. 

Pinwheels: Week Five

This weekend I finally got around to taking photos for the blocks I finished up a couple weeks ago for the pinwheel quilt-a-long.

Love it:

Hate it:

I guess there has to be one you're not crazy about, right?

Ready for the Road

This weekend Shawn and I are heading to Columbus, OH for a wedding.

I now have a binding to keep myself busy on the road. So close to finishing the number one thing on my to do list for the month!

P.S. I look these photos outside while wearing flip flips! Yay for warmer weather! Yes, I am in denial that the forecast says its going to be 39 on Monday.

Pinwheels: Week 3

Earlier this week I whipped up my pinwheel blocks for the quilt-a-long.  I think I have said this every week so far, but I'm really loving these blocks. 

I decided that I am going to hold off on week four.  Not only does it work out wonderfully for my schedule, I think it might be a wise decision in the long run.  This week's block only has one fabric used, so it may be a nice block to have at the end.  Since we're using layer cakes and I don't know what all of the blocks look like, I'm thinking it might be a nice way to use up stray squares or to even out some colors.  We'll see if it proves to be as wise as I am expecting.   

Pinwheels: Week Two

Week Two for the Pinwheel Sampler.  I have thoroughly enjoyed making these pinwheel blocks so far.

I decided to do a little experiment with this pink block to see how much of a difference it makes to square up those half square triangles.

It's not too bad, but the green one is definitely better. It actually made a huge difference before I squared up the finished block. I suppose I'll be squaring up all of those pesky little half square triangles in the future.

Pinwheels

When I saw Rachel of p.s. i quilt's pinwheel sampler, I fell in love.  It's gorgeous!  So I decided to add making a similar one of my own to the to do list.  Fortunate for me, Rachel has decided to host a pinwheel quilt-a-long and we all now how I'm a sucker for a quilt-a-long.

I picked up a Nouveau layer cake.  Since the line has been around for awhile, I was able to pick up some yardage for only $3.99 a yard!  That's less expensive than using Kona solids for the back and binding too.  Not to mention that it is prettier too.  

This morning I was able to make the first blocks.

I'm liking what I see!