My FIrst WIP Wednesday

 A bunch of the blogs that I follow do what is called a WIP Wednesday.  It stands for Work in Progress Wednesday on which they discuss all their current projects and how they are coming along.  It was all started by Lee at Freshly Pieced.  I'm in love with her blog and so many of her projects!  I hesitated doing a WIP post because I didn't think I had that much going on and it wouldn't be very interesting - HA!  Once I started thinking about it I had a few that were worth taking pictures of and so many more things I'm working on that are in various stages of completion.  I promise they won't all be this long, there's a lot of background to cover on the first one.  So here we go...

Quilts:

I love Moda Bake Shop!  I seriously stalk it and drool over the many fabulous projects that so many of their talented people come up with.  I have and entire pinboard on Pinterest dedicated to quilts to make and most of them are either from the Bake Shop or from their Chef's blogs.  This Cartwheels pattern written by Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts instantly caught my eye.  LOVE!  I wanted to try something with a Jelly Roll and some 30's reproduction so what would be better than this quilt in Moda's 30's Playtime?  Today this quilt took a giant leap forward!  My friend Leila over at Sewn by Leila asked if she could practice her new found long arm skills on my quilt.  Ever the brave soul and lured in by her skill, charm, and cheap rate I agreed.  I am so so happy with the way it turned out!

Okay I'm typically not a random placed kind of girl but I LOVE this!

 It was so funny because when she brought it back over after it was done all she saw was the flaws (don't we all do that!) but I didn't see them and still think it's just wonderful!  The stippling with flowers mixed in are just perfect.  She was totally upset by the amount of puckering but honestly I think it was my fault for not being precise enough with my piecing.  You see, my 20 month-old son LOVES to sit on my lap while I so, as does my nearly 3 year-old daughter for that matter.  Well, it's really hard to sew straight and accurate seams while having a squirming toddler on your lap but they are so adorable I find it hard to say no.  As this quilt was for me I figured a few flaws wouldn't kill me.  Too bad it was uber-frustrating for Leila!

Notice the adorable flower in the middle!

I'm also working on a Christmas quilt for me.  Nearly eight years ago I made Christmas quilts for each of my siblings and one for my mom.  I never quite got around to making mine.  I had the fabric all these years but never had the time/desire/whatever.  Well, I took out the fabric and decided to have a go of it but I wasn't in love with the fabric anymore!  I have a husband now and four kids and it just didn't seem to fit. When I saw the Ready Set Snow line from Moda I just fell it love!  It's full of fun Christmas prints and it even includes a lot of blue (my favorite color!)  I love the bright and boldness of it all.  While poking around the Bake Shop I found the Etchings quilt by Andrea from Millions of Thoughts and I fell in love!  I worried that it wouldn't go with my fabric choice but I went with it anyway and I'm so glad I did.  I have all the blocks pieced together with one full row done and two more repeaters to go.  It should go pretty fast once I make the time.

Doesn't it look so festive?!

I recently had a miscarriage, my second last year.  Well, when I was pregnant I was hoping it would be a girl and I fell in love with the name Ruby.  I think it is just perfect.  Well, when I saw that Moda had a Ruby line of fabric I just knew I HAD to own it in case the baby was a girl.  I found this All Framed Up Baby Quilt pattern by Melissa from Happy Quilting at the Moda Bake Shop (see, I seriously stalk them!) and just had to have a replica!  When I lost the baby I was determined to make the quilt anyway and either keep it for a future baby girl or for myself. Either way it was bumped quickly to the bottom of the list but I still have all the beautiful fabric!

Seriously the most beautiful fabric I've ever seen!

Crochet:

I have had an ever growing love for all things crochet lately. I love that I can do it while sitting on the couch and have some me time while keeping up with the four kids and my hubby.  As a result the floor next to my spot on the couch always has a pile of yarn and a few works in progress.  Currently filling that spot are washcloths.  I recently posted on Facebook some of the crochet things I was working on and my friend asked me if she could pay me to make her 10 washcloths.  At the time I didn't have anything on my waiting to crochet list and I jumped on the chance to get paid to do something relaxing!  I bought some Peaches and Cream cones at Walmart and got started.  I can get probably seven or eight from each cone but I wanted there to be the same number of each color so I'm doing five and five.  I currently have seven finished and am about halfway through the eighth.  I'm hoping to get them done to give to her when I see her tomorrow night.  I was going to link up to the pattern but they switched links on me and it no longer exists.  Good thing I printed mine out so I don't have to go there again!  After this many I have it memorized though.

You can't really see the cream colored ones in this picture but they are the same pattern as the blue.

For Christmas this year I crocheted a blanket for each of my children.  I wanted one for me too but didn't have the time.  I played around with a few ideas before I landed on the one I loved.  A basket weave pattern like this one here was at the top of my list.  I just love the texture!  I tried a sample (pictured below) and it was so fast and simple while looking awesome - just the way I like 'em.  However to make the size I was going for I'd have to have about 8 one pound skeins or 17 regular skeins of matching yarn (totally not going to happen).  I thought about making them into little squares like my sample and sewing them together but I wasn't sold on the idea.  It was back to the drawing board.

You really can't see the texture here but it's quite fabulous.  Click on the pattern link for a better shot.

Plan B involved getting a free or cheap pattern and running with it.  Well, I was at Hobby Lobby and I saw the I Love This Yarn.  Many of the bloggers I follow really do love it so I thought I'd try it out.  I couldn't remember or figure out in my head how much yarn I needed for the patterns I already had so I bought this adorable pattern book.  It's full of so many fun ideas!  It's made to be used with Sugar and Cream cotton skeins that are only 2.5oz so the requirements took a little adjusting.  I'm doing the throw on the front in slightly different colors.  I'm anticipating it being adorable but a slight pain in the butt as I have to switch yarn colors at each row.  I'll let you know how it goes.

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 0
New projects - 1

Currently in progress - 5