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!

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

So I'm kind of freaking out!

On Saturday morning, I teach my first class . . . EVER.

The pattern for the class . . . Abel

I'm completely and totally terrified! But my friend Michelle (of Urban Spools) seems to think I'm pretty good at embroidery, so I hope I can make her proud.

I have been thinking nonstop about stitches, trying to keep everything straight.

Abel the Stitch Explorer by Follow the White Bunny

Will I sound like I know what I'm doing? Because I usually just wing it.

Will I make my students love embroidery? Because I do. But I know better than anyone that a bad teacher can kill a project. I'm worried! :/

So I haven't really been concentrating on anything else, except my Uncle & soon-to-be-Aunt's wedding quilt.

Kona snow, Kona champagne, Kona grass

They requested a Guest Quilt instead of a Guest book, and I have been put in charge!

This is Red Pepper Quilt's Economy Quilt Block.  I used the paper piecing template from Craftsy and enlarged it about 140% to almost 7 1/2" (hoping the paper on the back helps people write on the fabric a little better!). Also, as much as I hate paper piecing, my points are FANTASTIC!!!!

So pointy!

I'm almost finished with the blocks, and then I can get back to working on my MIL's birthday present . . . and then it will be time for CHRISTMAS!

Seriously, only 75 more days, and then SANTA COMES! "I LOVE HIM!!!!!!!" (I also love the movie Elf, this is a quote!)

Really? crap!

I am also participating in the You Are Here swap coordinated by Sukie - Don't You Know Who I Am?  I sent my partner a Dallas Mug with a book and some binding clips, and this is what my AWESOME partner sent me!

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!

Hurray for Chicago! I'm super pumped! The next round starts in 2 weeks, and I am determined to actually make my next partner something!

Hopefully I will have my camera back in the next week or two, then I can stop with the phone photos, but until then, at least I have pictures!

See ya!
EL

PS: If you think about it, on Saturday about 9:30 and on Wednesday at 6PM, please send good thoughts to me. I'm going to be SUPER nervous!

Guild Swap and a Baby Finish . . .

So . . . I'm just going to ignore the fact that I'm behind on blogging and forget the promises of things to show you . . . and just dive into my post! ;)

I did finish the baby receiving blanket for our friend.

It's Anna Maria Horner's Field Study Cell Structure voile, Robert Kaufman Solid Pink flannel, and Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill square petals for the binding (all bought at Fabric Worm).

I put my initials and the year on the back like last time . . .

Yes, my 13 sucks, but I really don't care! It was late and curves are hard! ;)

Moving on.

Tonight is the meeting for our Dallas Modern Quilt Guild!  We have a swap this time; last month we all brought a gallon bag of scraps to swap out with people. I included a little "thank you" pincushion for my partner.

Pincushion from tutorial found on Pinterest.

We brought their bag home and made something for their kitchen.

My bag of scraps!

I got Miss Shannon, and she requested a hot pad and an apron (a fancy, entertaining one).

I hope she likes what I did!

"Fancy Apron" - no pattern, tried to copy one my Great-grandma made!

Miss A modeling . . . because you didn't want to see it around my waist! (Notice the teapot!)

I made hot pads from a tutorial off of the Purl Bee and an oven mitt from a tutorial from Pickup Some Creativity. (Seriously, what did we do before Pinterest?) 

Hot Pad #1

Hot Pad #2

Hot Pad #3

Look at that fussy cutting . . . total accident, but totally adorable if I do say so myself!

Oven Mitt

Hot Pad #4 with mitt openings

Shannon seriously gave me some awesome scraps! I had some binding issues yesterday, but muscled through! It's not the best, but I hope she likes them!

I can't wait for tonight!

See Ya!

EL