Round & Round by ThimbleBlossom

**Full disclosure - this has been sitting here typed up for almost 3 weeks waiting for me to get good pictures. It never happened. Sorry! :)

I finished my quilts! Hurray!

I love the binding! It's my favorite part!

In fact, I finished them on day #1 of a 3 day trip . . . so I had nothing to do on my 8 hour drive home! How's that for underestimation?

Anyway, here is the finished quilt.

Its Round & Round by ThimbleBlossom. 

My Review: (remember, while I've been quilting for a long time, I'm not great at it. So my reviews are my opinions based on my sewing level, which is somewhere between beginner and intermediate. I call it Crappy Intermediate)

It's a great pattern! I love all of her stuff. Her quilts seem to be close enough to vintage that my grandmother appreciates them, but there's always a modern twist. There's always an impact, and I have received a WHOLE lot of complements on it! Especially from Miss A.

Her patterns are well written, but complex (at least to me). Honestly, I can't drink while piecing them. I chain pieced all of the HSTs, but when it came to the blocks I had to lay them out and sew them one at a time. I labeled each row and put them back on the design wall after every seam. And I STILL screwed up the placement of some of the stars. Each block took me about 45 minutes (early on it was over an hour). So it was real work for me, but, again, her pattern took me step by step. The only confusion was when I tried to expand it to king size . . . but that's pregnancy brain, not ThimbleBlossom ;)

All in all, I recommend her patterns, but not as something quick and easy. It's a project that you really have to want to do, but I'm so glad I used it for Miss A's big-girl quilt. It's something really special!

On her Big Girl Bed!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Round & Round by ThimbleBlossom
Top Fabrics: Some Kona gray (not sure which) and a TON of my scraps. As much purple and pink as I could stomach!
Backing Fabric: Doe by Carolyn Freelander in gray (108" baby!)
Binding Fabric: Widescreen by Carolyn Freelander in Orange (again, 108", but I had cut it up. So I couldn't use it for a back!)
Date Began: April 2014
Date Completed: January 22, 2016
Recipient: Miss A
Reason: Technically: Her 5th Birthday, but honestly, she needed a quilt for her bed that matched her room.
Pieced and Quilted by: Me!

I also finished my ThimbleBlossom Swap Mini. (see above, review is basically the same)

Front

Back

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Fireworks by ThimbleBlossom
Top Fabrics: Some Kona cream (not sure which) and Sky Ships and Bats in the Belfry in Plum from Tula Pink's Elizabeth Line
Backing Fabric: 16th Century Selfie in Plum from Tula Pink's Elizabeth Line (My dad thinks this is hilarious. He likes it better than the front)
Binding Fabric: Tudor Windows in Plum from Tula Pink's Elizabeth Line
Date Began: November 2015
Date Completed: January 22, 2016
Recipient: Can't tell you, it's a secret swap!
Reason: ThimbleBlossom Swap #2
Pieced and Quilted by: Me!

UFO's Down: 2 of 16. And onto the next one. I'm working on a King Size quilt from Cabin Fever by Natalia Bonner. It's my second quilt from her book, and I love it!

See ya!
EL

PS: I met Jackie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio at our DMQG meeting. My cool level just jumped, right? ;)

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm kind of freaking out here!

Packing and Sewing

I am frantically washing clothes and packing things and trying to clean the house (and keep it clean) so we can leave first thing tomorrow . . . and I decided to throw a "quick" sewing project in the mix, just to keep things interesting ;)

First of all, I did get both my full-size and my mini quilt ready to go. They are quilted and the binding is machine-stitched down, ready to be hand stitched!

I hope I can get them finished and washed at my mom's house

. . . she can help me get some pretty pictures of them!

Because I'm SOOOOOOO proud of myself for getting these done, I decided to make myself a present! I honestly thought I wouldn't have these ready to bind until the end of January, and my deadlines aren't until the second week in February, so if I finish this weekend, I'm 2 weeks ahead of schedule! That NEVER happens!

So instead of starting on another one of my UFO's on my list, I decided to try something I've been wanting for a while, the Goody Goody Binding Kit (tutorial by Vanessa of Lella Boutique)! It'll be helpful to finish my binding on my trip too, right?

My only problem is that the strap for my thread is too fat to go through my spool.

 :(. Oh well, it's keeping the scissors in the holder I made too big 

(trying too hard to be cool . . . My downfall every time!)

It took me about a week, working in little bits here and there (teething baby . . . lots of grump in my house this week). It's a great tutorial, easy to follow with lots of little steps. I liked that I could do one or 2 things and easily put it down and pick it up again. Somedays I only had about 10 minutes, so it was nice!

Fabrics are from C&S Moonlit.

I had a random FQ bundle lying around, so I decided to use it!

Mine's not perfect . . . nothing I make ever is, and I'm ok with that! It's just for me and the colors are bright, so I'm happy.

And a little reward for finishing some UFO's helps keep me going! I'm ready for the next thing on my list! :)

See ya!
EL

Progress!

I have progress to show you! Hurray!

I finished piecing Miss A's quilt top on Sunday (1/10) and got it basted the next day!

So bright and cheerful!

I worked on it for 2 days, and got the quilting finished on Tuesday night!

My stitches need work, but for me, done is better than perfect!

Thankfully, Miss A LOVES it! She couldn't even wait to get it bound before she started using it!

She's watching the downstairs TV here.

This weekend I plan on cutting the binding and getting it stitched to the back. I'm going out of town next weekend, so I want to do the hand part of the binding while I'm gone.

When I've completed it, I'll post the whole thing (hopefully with better pictures) with a pattern review. (Again, it's Round & Round by Thimble Blossom).

I'm pretty proud of myself! I know it's not the best piecing or quilting, but I'm usually so slow that I wasn't expecting to even start quilting before February! It's amazing what ACTUALLY sewing (instead of thinking about sewing) will do for your productivity! I will actually have this done before her birthday! (Even my husband is impressed at that!)

Since I pulled off the miracle of getting this done, I was able to work on my Thimble Blossoms Swap!

My partner likes brights, so I went with a couple of prints from Tula Pink's Elizabeth line. TP is usually pretty good about bright and happy colors!

Firework Mini by Thimble Blossom.

My goal is to get it basted and quilted this weekend, and hopefully half bound next week. It's just one block, so it shouldn't take that long, right? Again, I want to do the hand binding next weekend while I'm at my mom's.

It's kind of nice to actually be able to show you progress! That so rarely happens! It makes me want to sew more when I have something to show for my time! Maybe I'll actually get through all my UFO's this year! (Or is that just a pipe dream?)

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

See ya!

EL

On the Lasting Effects of Pregnancy Brain

So, after my last post, my momentum died. You don't want to hear my sob stories (even though I REALLY want to bitch about them), so let's chalk it up to holidays with small children and leave it at that.

Anyway, for New Years I got myself the new Quilter's Planner and I organized my year!

Off the top of my head I counted 16 UFOs (at least have fabric bought for it). So my goal is to make a dent in the list before starting anything new.

I love the way she organized this page!

My first priority is to finish Thing 1's birthday quilt (started May 2014). Her birthday is February 9. I had 3 blocks pieced, plus 11 more blocks cut, HST made, and organized (ready for piecing).

Pattern is Round & Round by ThimbleBlossom.

Here's my funny story.

Thing 1's bed is a full size . . . The mattress is 53"x72".  The pattern makes a quilt that's 68"x72". All I should need to add are borders on top and bottom to make it fit the bed, right?

I stressed myself out a ridiculous amount on this quilt. For some unknown reason, I did a TON of calculations at the beginning to make the quilt 96"x107".

Why? The only thing I can think is that I was pregnant at the time. I blame pregnancy brain!!!!! All I really needed were some borders on top & bottom.

So I've been freaking out thinking I had to make 14 blocks instead of 7. Hee hee hee!

So, as of today I have 1 more block to piece (instead of 8). And each one takes me an hour and a half, so that saves me 10 hours of piecing!! Hurray!!!

I love my design wall! 

I have 1 block to fix (too bad I can't blame pregnancy brain for this one).

There are several things wrong, but I'm just fixing the VERY visible one!

And then I can piece the top! If I keep up with the 1 hour a day/4 days a week, I should definitely have it done by her birthday!!!

So here's to a new year, and to crazy math mistakes from 2 years ago that save you time!

Happy New Year!

EL

Christmas Quilts are coming along!

Christmas is coming! It's only 6 weeks away!

So, last time I said I would keep you updated on my progress and that I would try to sew 4 days a week. So far I've been doing ok!

Saturday all my friends were at a retreat, so I had a pity party!! I shipped one kid off to grandma's and the other one was pretty happy in her "Thunder-dome" (it's a play pen, but the reference cracks me up), so I parked in front of the TV and sewed for 6 hours! 

I got 2 lap-size Christmas quilts pieced and 1 full-size Christmas quilt mostly cut!

Sunday - I cut some more on the full size quilt.

Monday - NOTHING!!!!!

Tuesday - finished cutting out the full sized quilt and laid out the more intricate blocks. Started piecing the blocks. Decided on a pattern for a KING SIZE Christmas quilt.

Wednesday - I swear I spent 3 HOURS shopping and I'm counting it! I needed to buy the fabric for my king size quilt. Thankfully the pattern is made in all 2.5" squares and rectangles, so I decided to make it easy and buy jelly rolls.  I wanted solid colors, obviously in red, green, and white. Guess what, YOU CANNOT FIND GREEN JELLY ROLLS!!! I went to 2 LQS, called 2 more, checked out at least 7 online stores and COULD NOT find green jelly rolls. I finally found the color I wanted on Ebay. After getting them off Ebay, I realized I had purchased Junior Jelly Rolls from my LQS in red and white, so I only had half of what I needed. So I ordered more online (from The Fat Quarter Shop! Quick shipping and awesome selection!).

At this point, I do want to give a shout-out to my LQS Stitched With Love. It's a bit of a drive for me, but when I couldn't find the green I wanted, they pulled out their Kona and Bella color cards and helped me go through and find the right color. (Evidently the one "green" that I found online was really teal. Would not have worked.). They also offered solutions to make cutting a billion strips easier and then offered to buy the green jelly rolls I wanted from the supplier for me in case I couldn't find it. Their customer service is AMAZING! That is why I'll make the drive and spend the time to shop with them!

Thursday - finished piecing the blocks, pressed and trimmed. Laid out full size quilt.

Friday - pieced full size top!

This weekend I'll be visiting my grandparents out of town so I doubt I'll have any more time to sew this week, but I've actually surpassed my weekly goal (an hour a day for at least 4 days). Lets just hope I can keep up the momentum next week! Next week I hope to baste and quilt the 3 tops I have done, and start piecing the KING SIZE quilt!

My goal is to have 4 christmas quilts completed by Thanksgiving. We're having a Christmas party on the 5th and I want everything decorated really well! So cross your fingers for me! If I keep going this way, I might be able to have it done!!! :)

See ya!

EL

November, How I Love Thee . . .

This time of year is always crazy.

Crazy but fun! I love fall!

As usual, I'll spend this month trying to make ALL my Christmas decorations . . . And next month I'll spend my time trying it make ALL my Christmas presents . . . And I rarely get anything done, much less everything! Add to all that, this year I have an (almost) one year old who requires almost constant supervision (I mean, come on! Don't you know not to eat cat litter yet?), a 4-year-old who has activities and friends (really? Gymnastics every week? And playing with other children? Can't you be anti-social like your mamma and just stay in your room to read?), and a new part time job (yes, from home. But still! You can't wash dishes and placate angry tenants at the same time); and suddenly my sewing time is almost nonexistent.

My parents live in Leland, MS. Home of Jim Henson. :)

But this year, I'm going to do it! See if I don't! I have a plan, and a kiddo who expects (and is excited for) a Christmas quilt for her big girl bed. I hate to disappoint her!

But isn't that the definition if insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results?

Oh well, crazy is a fun place to be!

To prove I'm not all talk, I present to you my Momma's birthday quilt.

Its Peaches and Cream by Natalia Bonner from her book Cabin Fever . AWESOME book!!!

Her birthday was October 20th. We went to her home for a "party" on October 24th. I finally mailed it to her on November 4th. Only 2 weeks late! That's a marked improvement! I'm usually at least a month (if not a year) late!!!

So, do you want to know my plan for the 2015 holiday season?

I propose that 4 days a week (more than half . . . Impressive!) I will spend at least 1 hour working on sewing projects (this can be cutting, planning, or layout in addition to sewing). I know it's not much, and I'm hoping at least one day (Saturday or Sunday) I'll have more time, but a goal is meant to be surpassed, right?

I then hope to update y'all at least once a week. What's a plan without accountability?

Hopefully I'll get a few projects done this year . . . And then I'll have great momentum for 2016!

And yes, i am thinking about my 2016 Quilting New Years Resolution. Aren't you? What's the fun of being a crafter if you're not thinking months ahead of the next holiday? ;)

It's good to run things by y'all again. I missed you! :)

See ya!

El

Have You Given Up on Me?

It's been 16 months. I would have!!!

In fact, for a little while, I did.

I was right, though, 2014 was legendary.

                                                           Easter 2015

Now I have 2 Miss A's to sew for!

A lot has happened, and I don't want to go into it all. Lately I've actually been carving out time to sew, and I have started to miss my blog.

Stay tuned and maybe I'll add a little more here & there!

See ya!

EL

2014 Is Going To Be LEGEND . . . wait for it . . .

and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the second half of the word is DAIRY! LEGENDARY!

Yes, I am quoting Barney Stinson. :)

Suit Up!

I'm super pumped for 2014! Lots of awesome things are happening!

Miss A is turning 3, and that means some sort of "school" for her . . . and more naps for me;)

Matching block necklaces!

BOTH of my nieces are turning 1, which is an AMAZING thing to say . . . BOTH and NIECES. I am an AWESOME aunt!

Santa Kisses!

Also, I will turn 30! Hurray! I've hit some sort of milestone! And I plan on CELEBRATING! You know, by quilting and knitting and stuff. (I'm a party animal!)

I started a Sky Scarf today! It's a scarf pattern by the amazing people at Leaf Cutter designs. Every day for the entire year I will knit one stripe. Each stripe will show the weather for that day. On December 31, 2014 I will have a VERY long scarf that shows me the weather for my 30th birth-year. Pretty cool, huh?

Blue skies!

I am also in a Simply Solids bee with the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild. Super Pumped about that! Something different every month!

I am doing another year of Don't Call Me Betsy's Lucky Star BOM. (and I am still 9 months behind on 2013). Maybe I'll do a different color pallet for 2014 and make one big quilt out of the 2 years!

I think this was March of last year . . . I'm about 9 month behind on 2013

Finally, as I am RUBBISH with New Year's Resolutions, I have made a commitment instead, to LEARN. I want to learn to crochet (I bought a book), I want to re-learn the piano (bought another book), and for PETE'S SAKE I want to learn to quilt using something other than stippling!!! (I need a book on that one!)

Maybe along the way I'll learn organization and eating healthy and all the things you're supposed to resolve, but I feel right now that this year is going to be FUN! SO THERE! :P

Happy New Year Ya'll!
See ya!
EL

Christmas Gifts!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing holiday!  As we have a 3 year old, it started out amazing, but quickly deteriorated with a few tantrums. She's still talking about what an awesome day it was, though, so I guess it's a win!

Her new house, and her Princess Dress, and her Pirate Spyglass.

She is a girl of many tastes!

Santa was VERY good to her, and she is very appreciative! She wrote him a thank you note! (Hurray for manners! Let's hope it lasts!)

I made very few gifts this year . . . I learned my lesson a few years ago and just do what I can.

I made my grandmother a Rainbow Quilt from a kit from Pink Chalk Fabrics. The quilt sewed up REALLY fast!

 So bright and happy! :)

 The backing (From Camille Roskelley's Scrumptious) was picked out by Miss A because "Flowers make Oma happy", and how do you say no to that?

backing

I also knit my grandfather a blanket; I've been working on it off and on all year, but I think it turned out very nicely!

Knitted!

When I finally cast off, it was 65" x 25" . . . yes, I almost cried! But after blocking it (thank goodness for tutorials on the Internet!) it ended up 65" x 45". I'm told he fell asleep on Christmas day under it, so I think he likes it!

I made my awesome SIL a quick scarf from a kit and tutorial from The Purl Bee.

Just me . . . posing (I changed shirts so I looked presentable!)

It turned out really well! I had a hard time giving it up! I got to try something new, elastic smocking, which was easier than I thought it would be.

Smocking

Finally "Mrs. Clause" made Miss A a baby doll quilt for her new baby and baby bed!

Baby's Quilt

Thankfully I have a stock of It's A Hoot from before she was born and was able to whip up a quick quilt that matches the one on her bed.

Kirsten's bed

It's an amazing bed. My Opa (who got the knit blanket) made me this bed and a matching trunk when I was a kid for my American Girl doll (Kirsten).  Santa found it in the attic and thought it would be perfect for a new baby doll grandma was getting her. Baby has slept in that bed every night since Christmas. It makes me smile!

Those are the only gifts I made! I took it easy this year and it ended up being a great Christmas! I hope you all had one just as good!

Happy Holidays!
See ya!
EL

Quilt Stats:
Name: Oma's Rainbow
Size: 64" x 64"
Design: Line Art Kit from Pink Chalk Fabric
Fabric: 2 Robert Kaufman Kona Jelly Rolls (one white and one multicolored)
Back Fabric:  Aqua Summer from Scrumptious by Camille Roskelley
Completed: December 16, 2013

Christmas Quilts!

Christmas Trees!

Merry Christmas!! I LOVE this time of year! I'm very into the decorating, and the baking, and the EATING!!!! Every year I want to have Christmas quilts out, but I usually underestimate my time and overestimate my ability, so I don't get them done.

NOT THIS YEAR BABY!!!!!!! Granted, one of these quilts was pieced, basted, and partially quilted, and the other is ridiculously small and completely cut out and organized, but I actually FINISHED 2 CHRISTMAS QUILTS! And that is what we are focusing on! ;)

The first one was part of a Round Robin for the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild that started in February of 2012 and ended in July of  2012. I finished this quilt on November 21, 2013!

Round Robin Quilt . . . I need to find a better way to photograph quilts!

I used the Octagonal Orb Block tutorial from Oh Fransson! as my center, 

It looks like a wreath! Hurray!

and some lovely ladies of the DMQG finished the sides.

Inner borders.

Outer Borders.

I did have to add one border to make it long enough, but it now resides on my guest bedroom bed!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Christmas Wreath
Size: I didn't measure, but it fits a full size bed really well.
Design: Round Robin (center is Octagonal Orb Block from Oh Fransson!) 
Fabric: Miscellaneous Christmas scraps (back is a sheet) 
Completed: November 21, 2013
Label: None, but I do have a journal I sent around for the ladies to write in. It includes pictures! :) 


The second one is for Miss A's toddler bed! I picked out the fabrics and cut them last year before abandoning it for more pressing matters.

Look at those little feet!

It is the Lovely Little Forest tutorial from Purl Bee.

I used a TON of fabrics, some are real lines, some are scraps from my stash, some are even scraps from my Grandma's stash. So I can't tell you what they are.

She wanted to photograph her quilt!

But the back and binding are from Happy Zombie's Holiday Happy line. (Miss A LOVES the "Santa's" on the back!).

"Santa" Gnomes!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Ali's Christmas Trees
Size: 44" x 52" (Small enough for her toddler bed, but big enough for a couch quilt when she moves into a big bed!)
Design: Lovely Little Forest from Purl Bee
Fabric: Miscellaneous Christmas Scraps (Back is Happy Zombie's Holiday Happy gnomes.) 
Completed: November 21, 2013
Label: None

I'm really proud of my Christmas quilts, and that I've actually had them decorating the house for the entire Christmas season. Maybe next year I'll have one for my bed! (No promises.) ;)

I do have some Christmas presents to show you next time (not too many, I decided not to kill myself;)

Merry Christmas!
See ya!
EL

Finish! - Franken-quilt!

I hate this quilt sooooo much!

F-ing Snowflakes

Don't get me wrong, it turned out really cool. I like the way it looks.

More F-ing Snowflakes

But every time I see it I feel frustrated and disappointed.

F-ing Snowflakes

The pattern is from this amazing book called Pixel Play by Emily Cier. The book is full of crazy cool quilts! Every page is so inspired . . . but after making this one, I don't think I'll make any more!

The strips were 1" finished, so I cut HUNDREDS of 1 1/2" strips and squares. To keep them all sorted, I had to use 3 poster boards with the strips organized by length. I did the opposite color palette from the book, so I really had to think about what I was doing (so no wine! boo!).

Dang strips!

The book broke the quilt into 7 sections, each with 10 strips in it. Each section took a solid 3 hours to complete. That's an ENTIRE nap time! I finally quit halfway through my 6th section, so its not as long as it should be, but it's big enough to cover a person on the couch, so I'm fine with it.

One Section, lots of strings!

When I put them together, I knew my strips weren't exactly the same length, but once I put the sections together, I found out they were off by 6 or 7 inches! and it took several cuts to get it squared off once I quilted it, and it's still not exactly square. Again, the whole thing was really frustrating, and it only has 2 colors, so I'm not sure how I would even begin some of the quilts in the book with 7 or 8 different colors!

STILL not square!!!

Anyway, it's at my MIL's house now and she loves it, say that's all that matters.

Finished. And loved.

Washing my hands of it!

Quilt Stats
Name: F-ing Snowflakes!
Size: don't ask. all the sides are different (appx. 59" x 48")
Design: Snowflakes from the book Pixel Play by Emily Cier
Fabric: Kona Snow and Kona something blue - I can't remember which one. (Back is Kate Spain In From The Cold Snowfall in gray)
Completed: October 31, 2013 (The MIL's 60th birthday was 10/30, and we had her party on 11/3, so it was on time!)
Label: I love this, It's a 2013 calendar from a tea-towel off of Spoonflower! I used these for my dad's 60th quilt and for the hubby's 30th quilt, too! (I stole the idea from Imagingermonkey!)

Birthday Label

See ya!
EL

PS: I just realized I haven't done a post for S's 30th quilt! And that was back in May! I'll do one tomorrow!