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!

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!

Friday Finishes

*Still using phone photos. Thank goodness for Instagram!*

Woo hoo! It's FRIDAY! :)

Last night was our meeting of the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild! So I can show you my Modern Mini. We could only use solids that our partner brought, and it had to be modern.

I made this one for Rebecca.

Half square triangles! :)

Angie made this for me!

Front

Back

It's perfect! I posted on Instagram about Miss A covering up her stuffed kitty with a towel because he was cold,

I swear, we DO have quilts in the house!

so Miss Angie made this perfect quilt for her and Kitty to keep warm! :)

We LOVE it! She's already slept with it!

I also finished my picnic quilt a while ago, and since I wasn't blogging, you didn't get to see it, so here it is!

So cheerful! And no white! I'm "growing" ;)

We spent most of the summer having picnics in the backyard, at the Dallas Arboretum, and in the living room. Miss A LOVES it!  (I think I'm growing a quilter! Hurray:)

Yes, I'm also growing someone with sass!

Quilt Stats.
Name: Picnic Quilt (I know, I'm not very original!)
Size: 68" x 68"
Design: St. Louis 16 Patch (tutorial at Sew With Sass)
Fabric: Picnic Pals by Penguin & Fish (the back is some random cheap fabric from JoAnn's)
Completed: July 7, 2013 (I swear, one of these days I'll finish in time for the correct holiday!)

See ya!
EL

Friday {Baby} Finishes

This post will be really quick as I am on my way to my SIL's baby shower. (PS still using phone photos!)

This is the quilt I made my future niece/nephew.

Hurray for Tummy Time!

Again, the gender is a surprise, so I made a neutral play quilt from the book We Love Color (the same one I used to make Steven's quilt).

Miss A "helping"!

These colors match the bird wallpaper they picked for the nursery.

Strips of Color

I used the scraps to make the banner for the shower.

Baby J!

And that's it for today! Now I'm off to the shower to see my family and eat cake! ;)

See ya!
EL

PS: For posterity, I finished the play quilt August 17th.

We're just going to ignore . . .

the fact that I haven't blogged since May. I'll give no excuses . . . you ask no questions, ok? ;)  (I just don't want you to know that I'm lazy!)

I have actually finished some things, though! I'll do it all a bit at a time so as not to overwhelm you!

First, I'll show you the quilt for my dad's 60th birthday!

I've been wanting to do a triangle quilt for a while now. I used the tutorial from Fancy Tiger Crafts!

The triangles are a mixture of green, gray, and black Kona solids I had lying around (sorry, I can't remember exactly which ones) and an Architextures print by Robert Kaufman.  The back is an old gray sheet (so it's super soft)!

For the label, I used a tea-towel with a calendar on it I bought from Spoonflower. I did the same thing on S's birthday quilt! (2013 is a big year! My niece was born, my husband turned 30, my MIL and dad turn 60 and my grandmother turned 90!)

He really liked it! My measurements were a bit off, so it's kind of skinny, but so is he, so it works! ;)

I'll show you more next time!

See ya!
EL

PS: for posterity sake, I completed this quilt on August 2!

Do you have an Aunt Bonnie?

(This post was really hard to write. I've been trying to for a week or so now. There's a lot left unsaid. I can't write it.)

Because you need one. Go find one. Aunt Bonnies make awesome lemon/blueberry pound cake. They have the most infectious smile and laugh. They brighten the entire room when they walk in. They are one of the few family members who will sit and listen to you talk about quilts for hours. (And actually be interested!)

But of all the Aunt Bonnies out there, mine is the best. Not only is she an amazing woman, she's a survivor. Years ago, she beat breast cancer. And I mean BEAT IT! She is a warrior.

The problem is, cancer sucks. Late last year, she had to start chemo again. A month or so ago, they stopped it. The damned cancer is in her liver . . . 

The quilting is large and loopy. A few months ago she cracked a few ribs under a heavy blanket. Evidently chemo makes your bones brittle, so I wanted to make it as light as possible. On recomendations from my amazing DMQG friends, I used a wool batting that is super warm, but light.

I need to show her how much I love her. This is the only thing I can do.

Stats:

           Block: String Heart Block tutorial by Don't Call Me Betsy

           Block & Binding fabric: Dolce by Tanya Whelan

           Background: Kona Sky

           Backing: something Robert Kaufman . . . it's been in my stash so long I'm not sure anymore

           Batting: Quilters Dream Wool

           Size: appx. 60"x40"

All pictures are pre-wash.

See ya.
EL

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

Friday Finish . . . Technically

TECHNICALLY, this week we finished . . .

an ear infection! (And antibiotics and feeling crummy and having multiple baths a day and LOTS of laundry!) In this picture she is using her play stethoscope to make her puppy feel better.

Miss A doesn't always want to be cuddly, so when she's sick we don't do much other than cuddle. So no sewing was done this week, but I can tell she's feeling better since she's running around in circles singing the Cat In The Hat song!

I'll have something to show next week!

Until then, I promise I'm working! (No more sitting on the couch watching princess movies.  Oh well, all good things come to an end, right?)

See ya!
Ellen

Friday Finishes!

So, I'm still grouchy and a little sick. The problem is I spread the cold to the husband and Miss A. Then Miss A got creative and turned a little cold into a double ear infection! So this week has mostly consisted of cuddling on the couch and watching princess movies.

I have also been jealously following all my friends (and a bunch of people I wish were my friends) at QuiltCon on Instagram. The grouchiness has increased greatly.

But I channeled that crabbiness into a little productivity.

From the couch I finished up the AMH receiving blanket for The Niece.

I can't tell you how rich and beautiful these colors are! The pictures don't do it justice. I really want to keep this for myself!

Since it's supposed to be soft and sweet, I went old school on the labeling. No tags or iron-on labels, just embroidered initials.

I learned this from  my amazing grandmother. Here is one of the many quilts she made me and her embroidered initials.

Speaking of my phenomenal grandmother, she turns 90 on March 16th. (This is also National Quilting Day! An awesome coincidence!). We are having a big party and, even though she said no gifts, we are giving her a quilt. She has spent the past 40-some-odd years making quilts for everyone, so we decided to make her one! I am getting blocks from my cousins and aunts and uncles and putting them into a top with fabric pictures of her and blocks of Sweetwater Mama Said Sew fabric. It's dictionary definitions of sewing words. (I ♥ Sweetwater fabric!)

In the middle of the top will be this:

(I embroidered this dedication block instead of using a label.)

The heart is an iron on by Stitcher's Revolution (I got it at JoAnns).

I just printed out a pretty font for the words and traced them on.

That silver thread looks awesome, but it was a pain in my you-know-what! (I'm not saying here as my mamma might read it and get mad. She's whipped me before for saying certain words and she might whip me again!) I'm pretty excited about the quilt, though. I hope it looks as good put together as it does in my head!

See ya!
EL