Report!

Four out of Five ain't bad, right?

On Saturday, I dropped the kiddo off at Grandma's house and sat down with a few diet cokes and some candy and sewed like a mad woman! First, I finished these blocks for my friend Amanda at Panda Bear Quilts. She is making comfort quilts for her nieces who recently and unexpectedly lost their father. You can read more about it here.

The I tackled Don't Call Me Betsy's Ninja Star (from Lucky Star BOM)! I was a bit distracted by Netflix, so there are a few, um . . . extra seams to fill up the squares. I purposefully took a blurry picture so you can't see it. Hee hee! Looks awesome, right?

 Then I actually took a deep breath and made a dress for my baby! I used this tutorial, and whipped it up. It was a lot more simple than I thought it would be! It is a bit wonky, and the pleats aren't even, but you know what . . .

I MADE PLEATS YA'LL!!!!! I kinda rule now.  Miss A will be wearing this to hunt Easter Eggs on Sunday!

Finally, I made the binding for my Christmas quilt. I made enough for a full sized quilt, plus extra, since I haven't finished the actual quilt yet! I  think it's around 400 inches.  

On Sunday, I spent about an hour staring at the Christmas quilt. I originally thought I had quilted between a quarter and half of it, but it turns out I only quilted about a tenth. I got discouraged and took a nap.

Oh well! I'm really happy with what I finished, and it's not like I need a Christmas Quilt in the next 2 weeks, so I'm good!

The next few weeks will be machine-less, so I may have to scrounge for things to tell you, but I can say I WILL be cleaning the sewing room, and washing & ironing new fabrics, and picking out new projects I want to start! :)

See ya!

EL

{Wo} Man with a Plan!

First and foremost, sorry for the crummy pictures. My house is a cave today!

This weekend, I am a Wo-Man with a Plan! On Monday, my beloved Ernst is going to the spa. (Yes, I do name my sewing machines; yes, I do name them boy names; and yes, I did name this one after the smart kid on the Swiss Family Robison because Bernina is a Swiss company!) Since I will probably be 2 weeks or so without a machine, I need to get some things done in preparation of no machine!

Most importantly, I am going to use these pink and brown fabrics (from It's A Hoot by MoMo for Moda) to make 2 Wonky Cross blocks. My amazing friend Amanda from Panda Bear Quilts is making comfort quilts for her 2 nieces that lost their father suddenly and tragically. If you want to help out, or just read about it, you can here. It's a super easy pattern, so I'll just whip them up and send them to her on Monday!

I also need to catch up on my Lucky Star BOM by Don't Call Me Betsy! The March block is the Ninja Star, and just the name cracks me up! I need to get this done before the next block comes out on April 1.

There is a slight possibility I'll get this done. It's my monster Christmas Quilt from the DMQG round robin last year. If I can just finish the quilting and get the binding on, I can do the hand binding while Ernst is away. The problem is, I'm not nearly as far along as I remembered being. Hmmm. :/.  We'll have to see.

And if I get everything else done, and if I can work up my courage to try something new, and if all the stars align, and if I can procure enough wine, I might use this pretty fabric (Modern Blooms by Hoffman Fabrics) to whip something for Miss A to hunt Easter eggs in. Maybe.

And finally, I just wanted to show you something pretty! I got a gift card to my favorite online fabric shop, Pink Chalk Fabrics, for my birthday. I bought stuff for other projects, but I had to slip this bag of pretties into the cart just for me! I haven't even opened them yet! They just sit on my craft desk, making me happy. Maybe I'll bust them out while Ernst is away!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll let you know on Monday how it went!

See ya!

EL

Happy Colors

That's what I need right now. Partially because of the crazy Texas weather that can't make up its mind if it wants to be warm or cold; partially because of the "push-Mamma-to-the-limits-of-her-sanity" phase Miss A is going through; but mostly it's because I have a cold and I'm a pretty crabby patient!

With my Christmas money, I bought myself two things, a membership in Don't Call Me Betsy's Lucky Stars BOM club and a stack of this QuiltCon Kona Solids bundle from Pink Chalk Fabrics. I didn't mean for them to go together, but this week I decided I needed something happy, so I put them together!

This was our December Practice block! Paper piecing has always been a sore spot with me. I get pretty frustrated, and this was the first time I've done it without my friends Lisa from Vintage Modern Quilts and Michelle from Urban Spools with me! They are amazing teachers and definitely had a ton of patience threw my little hissy fits during my last paper piecing projects!

This is the "Funky Star" from January! I'm feeling more confident in the paper piecing now! I wouldn't say I love it, but I definitely love the end product! I'm pretty satisfied at the end of an hour when I've completed something that looks this sharp! That never happens!

Here is February's "Exploding Star"! It's my favorite so far! I find I get a little cocky in the middle of the blocks ("Hey, I can do this! No problem!") and then I mess up. I have had to do a LOT of "unsewing", but again, the end product looks so nice it's almost worth it!

I also had to whip up a fabric tray from Noodle Head's tutorial to keep my instructions in. It's extremely easy, and so cute! I used more of my seemingly endless stash of Essex Linen and a fat quarter of Tula Pink's Prince Charming.

Here it is holding my paper piecing supplies!

Here are two more random happy colors I've seen today. The yellow Jonquils in my garden, and my pretty mug full of tea!

All this makes for a much happier patient!

See ya!

EL