WiP Wednesday: Julie vs. The To Do List

 I've been turning my to do list into a ta-done list. It's been a lot of fun this week with some smaller projects while I waited on fabric coming. I have four finishes and two starts to share today. Woohoo! I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

First off - the finishes...

With the leftover fabric from my son's pirate quilt I whipped up this adorable baby quilt with charm squares and some straight line quilting. See the finish post here.

The same friend requested a sock monkey hat and I was so happy to oblige. This is the first I've made in boy colors and I love the blue and gray. I was unaware until I started that the gray was variegated but it seems to work anyway. My son told me to just tell her I meant for it to look like that.

I also make two triple zip pouches (tutorial found here). This is the first one. I used some Noteworthy by Sweetwater for Moda and I just love it! I was totally intimidated reading over the instructions but actually doing it all made sense and it came out pretty great. This now holds all my crochet things like hooks, a pair of scissors, needles, stitch markers, and other essentials all in one place. It's fabulous!

Here's a peek with the zippers open so you can see the lining. I had them match the accent pieces and I just love it! I want to take it everywhere with me and show it off!

Because it was so awesome I had to make another one. This fabric is from the collection Type by Julia Rothman for Windham fabrics. It's so cute! I saw this a while ago and loved it but didn't know what I'd use it for so I never bought some. I went shopping for the fat quarters to make these two pouches and my LQS had some and I had to snatch it up. As a side note I have no fat quarter stash, well, not entirely true, I won five in a giveaway. So, I have five fat quarters. Totally weak and needs to be rectified.

Seriously, so cute! This one will hold all my EPP supplies. I have the hexies and fabric all ready to go but haven't yet started. This should make it all easier and in one place.

Now for the starts or in the waiting game....

I just love this Star Wars fabric! My cousin pinned this quilt and I knew I had to make it for her. It looked so fun and easy with this as the backing and a little R2D2 on the front. I ordered this fabric here on Spoonflower it also comes in blue. I'd never used them before. They custom print fabric either from your own image or those people have shared publicly. Totally awesome and oh the possibilites! This one is in line after the pirate quilt.

After waiting and waiting the rest of the pirate fabric came in the mail today. You can see it all here along with the book open to the pattern I'm making. It's the marbles one from Simply Fat Quarters. I hope to get this cut tomorrow and start sewing it up this week! My little man was jumping for joy as he brought me the package he found on his way in from school.

Well, that's my fun week! I hope you had a good one too and thanks for stopping by!

Baby Pirate Quilt Finish

 On my cutting table this week is a pirate quilt for my oldest boy. I cut all I needed from the Pirate Matey's fat quarter bundle and then had enough left over to make some more stuff with. I started with a throw pillow for his bed and had even more so I made a baby quilt for my friend who is expecting a little boy later this year.

There aren't any work-in-progress photos of this one because the top from start to finish including pressing took me less than an hour! Dude! I think this will be my go-to baby pattern from now on. I'm linking up with Finish it Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

I took 42 5" cut squares and sewed them in a 6 x 7 top. This is just after I spray basted. I just adore spray basting! It was so fast, especially for this quilt which only took me about ten minutes.

Then I used my walking foot and did some straight line quilting 1/4" on either side of each seam. For this small quilt it went quite quickly.

With some of my leftover fat quarters that my son didn't want to use in his quilt I pieced the backing. I used another to make the binding and it was the perfect size with no scraps leftover. The quilt is about 32" x 36" so smaller than I normally make a baby quilt but still respectable.

Here's a closeup of my fabric and the quilting. I just love the walking foot because I find it nearly impossible to go crooked!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest finish!

A Few Friday Finishes

I've been completing projects like crazy this week. I finished a quilt top, two zipper pouches, a pillow, and a crochet sweater. I already shared the quilt top and zipper pouches on Wednesday but now I'm sharing the other two and linking up with Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

My oldest boy (nearly eight) has been waiting VERY patiently for his turn in the quilt making lineup. He's seen many other quilts come and go and sweetly has waited, and waited, and waited. I bought this fat quarter bundle last November...

It's Pirate Matey's by Emily Taylor for Riley Blake. At one point in the waiting my son came up to me in my craft room and said, "Hey Mom, remember that pirate fabric you bought me? The one that is sitting right there? Well, do you think you're ever going to make something with it?" He was so so sweet about it that I knew I had to get on it and fast. People with babies coming, including mine, kept cutting in front of him but now it's finally his turn!

I ordered the rest of my fabric needs from fabric.com LOVE! To hold him over while we wait for that to be shipped I cut up all the fat quarters into what I needed for his quilt, his pillow, and 45 other charm squares that will end up being a baby quilt for my friend. It is amazing what you can get out of a fat quarter bundle! I will be able to back and bind the baby quilt too with what I have left over. 

Here's one side of the pillow. I did 2 3/4" by 15" strips. Random, I know, but that is what I had left over after trimming to straighten and cutting off what I needed for the two other quilts.

I spray basted to a bit of batting and straight-line quilted on either side of each seam. I just love how it turned out! It's an odd size pillow but since I just stuffed it with fiberfill instead of making a pillow form it really doesn't matter.

Here's my happy little man with his new pillow. He was so excited to sleep on it and said, "The quilt is going to be even better now because it has a matching pillow!" I love the enthusiasm.

I also finished up a crocheted sweater for the baby.

It's cute but I'm really not in love with it. The pattern (found here) was quite frustrating. It was complex and difficult to follow for what you actually did. The work itself, once I figured out what they were trying to get me to do, wasn't hard at all. Mine measures exactly how it is supposed to and yet the proportions seem all wrong. The sleeves are crazy long. Also adding to my angst with this sweater is the yarn. The color change is just too wide and it makes it look odd. I am hoping it will be super cute on her and I'll forget all these problems. It's still cute and should be even more so on a baby.

That's all for now. I'm getting so much done lately! I keep having contractions so my doctor ordered me on light duty. I am not in danger of having her, yet, but I tend toward preterm labor (3 of 5 babies) and we're trying to avoid that. That means no chores or dishes for me and a ton of crafty time! It sure is helping my to do list get done before she comes in just under 10 weeks.

Sewing with Ruby for baby Ruby

 After a year and a half of owning the fabulousness that is Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda I finally got to cut into it. I was saving it for my baby girl I hoped to have and she'll be here the end of July. I went from a bunch of cut out pieces last week to a finished quilt top this week and a few other small projects.

It all started with a WHOLE bunch of chain piecing. I was so impressed with how long this was I had to take a picture.

I then stopped the piecing and had some fun with the center block of the quilt. I adore how it turned out. I used a regular font on my computer, printed out her name and a few flowers I googled, then I raw-edge appliqued them on and stitched around the edges.  Well, most of the edges. You may notice, maybe not, that I missed the center of the R. I totally did not notice and moved on with the piecing. More about this later.

Here's the full top all finished. Isn't it lovely! I followed the All Framed Up tutorial found on the Moda Bake Shop.  I loved it and while there was a whole bunch of piecing for the size I really like how it turned out. The quilt is 40 inches square.

When I was sewing the final seam of the quilt the back-side of the center block was up. I happened to glance over and noticed how well I went around all the letters but then I noticed the R didn't have the center. Uh oh! I had to go back and go around that bit while wrestling the whole quilt instead of just one block. It was a bit of a pain but I'm glad I caught it before it was quilted.

Next in line is this fun fat quarter bundle for my oldest boy. It's Pirate Matey's for Riley Blake. I got them all pressed flat and ready to be cut and I hope to get to that this week. I'm doing a fun pattern for this one from the book Simply Fat Quarters.

Last week while poking around blog land I found this post from Dizzy Quilts. She made the awesome Open Wide Zippered Pouch out of some Ruby fabric and I knew I had to have it. I happened to have a few fat quarters of Ruby and mixed them with two other cordinating fabrics and made two zipper pouches.  They are so awesome! For one thing they really do open wide and I made the large version and you could almost fit a car in it. Well, not really but anything else you had in mind would do. As my dad would say, "It's a good and valuable thing - you can put stuff in it."

Last this week I very nearly finished this sweater for the baby. It is crocheted and pretty darn cute. I just have to do the edging on the sleeves and weave in all the ends. I love the colors of the yarn but I really don't like how infrequently it changes color, it makes the sweater look weird. In a blanket or something it might work. I keep telling myself it's cute anyway.

That's all for now. This week I hope to cut into the pirate fabric and get a quilt or two going from that. I also hope to crochet the hats I had planned on doing last week. We'll see what happens. Thanks for stopping by!

WiP Wednesday: Finish and Start

I made some great progress this week! I had an all-day sewing day which was a lot of fun and helped me finish up a quilt that had been in the work in progress category for 1.5 years! I also did a little crochet, scrapbooking, and started on the quilt for the baby! I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

 I'll start with the finish. It is my quilt from the Skill Builder Sampler series which was run by Leila over at Sewn by Leila.

I just love how this one turned out! It was so fancy it got its own finish post. Leila did the amazing quilting on it and got to practice her long-arm skills on my queen size quilt.  It is about 96" square.

I also whipped up this super cute owl hat. I just love this one! I found the pattern here on Etsy.

 

My push to get caught up on scrapbooking continues. I did these ten layouts for my eldest son. His is the last scrapbook I have to catch up on in 2010. It was fun to switch it up to manly paper after doing two scrapbooks for the girls.

This is my favorite layout of the bunch. I love the cool circles cut out of the triangle paper.

Also this week I got to play with this lovely bunch of fabric!! It is Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I bought this bundle back in 2011 when we were trying to get pregnant and I was hoping to use it for a girl baby. After a year and a half of trying we finally got pregnant and as luck would have it we got a girl!

Now I am 28 weeks along with our little girl. We're going to name her Ruby and thus the Ruby fabric is just perfect for her!

I was so excited to finally cut into this bunch of lovelies. I'm following the All Framed Up tutorial found at the Moda Bake Shop written by the fabulous Melissa over at Happy Quilting.

This week I hope to piece the Ruby quilt, crochet another hat or two, and do a bit of scrapbooking. Thanks for stopping by!

Skill Builder Sampler Finish

After about a year and a half of being a work in progress I finally finished my Skill Builder Sampler! I'm in love and it is just perfect on my bed! After I finished the blocks last June they were put in a box and left for quite some time. Last week I bought some fabric for the sashing and the border then put it all together. My fabulous friend Leila did an awesome job quilting it. The local quilt guild had an all-day sewing day and there I had it bound and finished up.

Here's some fun pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Here's the top all finished and quilted. I just love how it turned out! I put the blocks in the order that I created them so theoretically they go from easy in the top left to crazy hard in the bottom right. For all the posts on this quilt click here.

Now here are some closeups of my favorite blocks either because of the piecing or the quilting.

This is the hardest block in the series. It was crazy hard and I ended up cutting up the tips of the wings while piecing but I think it looks so great! I love the quilting in the wings too! This is Block #36 - Alice Brooks Butterfly.

This one is paper pieced and was so fun to make! It was a little tricky getting all the fabric in the right spot to make the pattern but luckily I didn't have to unpick anything. I found the pattern here for 99 cents.

This was the first time I attempted EPP with hexagons. I loved it so much I now have a plan to make a whole quilt of solid hexies. I hope to start it soon but I have all the pieces and fabric in my stash ready to go. I love how Leila did the quilting on this one, it makes it even more cute!

I really love geometric blocks and these triangles are so fun. The glaring sun make the quilting hard to pick up but she did wavy lines in the white and it just makes the triangles pop more and I love it! The colors are pretty fabulous too.

Who doesn't love a circle of geese block? I saw this one and thought it would be impossible and never turn out right but it was paper pieced and so much easier than expected. I love how it turned out!

This one was fun and totally a learning process. She had us try four different ways of applique and there were some that were much harder than others. The quilting was so fun too!

Here's one last picture to show off the backing and my little name tag in the corner. The backing fabric is 108" wide and was so nice not to have to piece. I got it at fabric.com and I highly recommend for backing.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! I'm linking up with Finish it Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

WiP Wednesday: UFO No More!

I accomplished so much this week! I took out a collection of blocks that I finished June of 2012 and put them together into a finished top! I'm so excited! I also finished up one of my 2010 scrapbooks and several crochet projects. It's been a crazy week and I'm linking it all up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

 I'll post in order that I worked on them. I kind of jumped around a bit...

This is part of the Skill Builder Sampler series I worked on last year. These blocks sat in a box since the end of June and I finally bit the bullet and put them into a quilt top.  I put them in the order that they were made so theoretically it goes from easiest to hardest top left to bottom right.

Then I finished up the scrapbook of my eldest daughter. I have pictures printed through the end of November that I've had sitting around for two years! I'm glad to have marked that off too.

Here's my favorite layout from that batch.

I love her cute scrapbook. It looks so thick!

Since I do five scrapbooks every year I needed some easy way to tell them apart.  Each one is color coded and they get a tag with their first initial and the year stamped on it. I can remember which one is which but this sure makes it easier for everyone else.

I crocheted this adorable sweater for my baby due the end of July. I was so excited to make it to match the sock monkey set I did last week. I found this adorable and FREE pattern here. Sadly I didn't look at the yarn requirements for the pattern and it came out HUGE. It needed baby sport weight and I used worsted weight. Thus a 3-6 month sweater turned out to be more like a 2T. It's still super cute and should fit her during the right season, just not this year. I think it might be easier to make a new sock monkey hat to match than another sweater to match the sock monkey hat.

This white blanket has been in the works for what seems like forever! I kept working on it but never seemed to get anywhere.  On Sunday I just sat on the couch and finished the whole thing. I'm so happy with it! I found the pattern here for free and it was so easy to follow.

Here's a bit of a closeup with the fun edge. I was so close to running out of yarn but I made it all with a one pound skein.

An artsy picture just because it is so cute.

I went to my LQS and they were so helpful! I just sat there while the woman helping me brought me all kinds of bolts to compare to my quilt.  It was so fun and easy! I went in thinking one color combination would be fabulous but with all her help I went a different way and I'm loving it. This is the green I picked for the binding and it's all ready to go!

Here's the sampler quilt all pieced together.  I just love the yellow border. I was thinking red or gray at first but the yellow is fabulous! My friend Leila who also came up with the sampler series is going to quilt it this week and I hope to have it finished and bound by my next post.

I have just entered my third trimester with this pregnancy and things are starting to get exciting. When I move around too much or try to work too hard I get crazy painful contractions. I had two premature babies and lots of preterm labor with other children. To keep this baby baking I have to spend a lot of time resting. I got this nice pile of yarn to keep me entertained while I sit around. I am so excited about what I have planned and am loving that creating cute things for my baby is helping her stay in longer.

My mom has this fun little tree that she decorates for every month/holiday. For Mother's Day she asked for some crochet flowers for her tree. I whipped these up pretty quickly and think they'll be just perfect for her.

I tend to hoard yarn a little bit so I got all of these fun spring flowers from my stash.

I made this adorable dress for my little baby and finished it in two days. I just love everything about it! The pattern was $3 and I found it here. It was more or less easy to follow. Creating the flap for the button the wording was a little weird but I figured it out and love the end result!

That was my crazy week. I've been thinking about posting more so my WiP Wednesday posts aren't so overloaded but then I get all excited to work on the next thing and it never happens. Maybe this week. Thanks for stopping by!