Last Minute Finishes

I usually like to front-load all my projects and finish with time to spare but I have probably been over scheduling and thus have finished things just in time. Some of these were from orders from my Etsy shop, one was from a quilt along and the last was a goal from my 2014Q1FAL and March ALYoF.

This adorable viking hat (found here) was from a shop order. Isn't it adorable on a baby?

Here it is off a baby. I love the cute little horns and the detail around the bottom.

That completed this order and I got it shipped off. I learned something about Etsy from this order. When you put a processing time on a project they don't add them together when people order more than one. So all of these things were supposed to be finished in five days. It was totally pushing it and they got mailed off on day six. I think that's still pretty good.

Here's another order from my shop. It's a bunny preemie hat for a sweet little baby in the NICU for Easter. I love the idea and it is so cute and tiny! It's about the size of my hand for scale.

A friend ordered this quilt from me for an upcoming granddaughter. The pattern was so fun to make and I love the color combination. It was a fun and gratifying finish.

It measures about 46" square so too big for yardage. I added a green stripe down the middle and did some straight line quilting. I'm loving the look of lines these days.

Here's a bit of a close up of the blocks. This pattern came from the book Simply Fat Quarters and went together really easily. The binding however was a horrible pain!! The timing went out on my machine and it was a nightmare trying to sew it on. I tried to borrow a friend's machine and hers was worse than mine. After several attempts I settled on just going for it with mine in a straight stitch (I usually zigzag my bindings) and it worked out really well. I'm not as good at the straight stitch but I went really slowly and kept telling myself no matter how long it takes it is faster than hand stitching.

This quilt was my March ALYoF goal (post here) and on my list for 2014Q1FAL (goal post). I'm glad I got it done just in the nick of time. Excuse the shadowy picture. It was crazy windy and rainy today and this is the best I could do. Since it's the last day of March I couldn't really wait for better conditions. Hurray for procrastinated finishes!

I did more straight line quilting with this one -- see, addicted. And again I love it! I also used my new Hera marker, also love! It works so well and I love that I don't have to worry about how to get the markings out. There were a few spots, especially on the dark fabric, that were a little tricky to see but I could see enough of it to keep my lines straight.

I adore the back of this quilt! The fabric is so fun and the stripe of snow fabric is fun. My little man is in the upper corner holding it down so I could hurry and take a picture before it blew away again.

These pillows were made as part of the Star Light Star Bright Quilt Along from Happy Quilting. I love how they turned out! I did a bunch of straight lines (obsess much?) in a variegated thread. I accidentally switched some of the block pieces so it is a little different from the original but I still love it.

The back is an envelope type in black. I seriously love them! I've always wanted festive pillows. Halloween may not have been the best choice for this time of year but I love them anyway and I'm going to leave them up for a few days just to enjoy.

Phew that was a lot! Can you believe I finished all of that since Wednesday! That's less than a week! Nothing like last minute deadlines to get the fire under me started. Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up with Finish it Up Friday and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

WiP Wednesday: Productive

I have had a fun and productive week this week. I tried some new things, picked up something I hadn't done in a while, finished up a quilt-a-long, and started a new quilt. Phew! I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

First up... the something new. I have never made stuffed animals before but thought, how hard could it be? My kids had been wanting to learn to sew with me and these looked cute and pretty easy so we decided to give it a go. I got this cute furry fabric at Joann's and while it is so soft it is crazy messy to cut and with all the static in the air right now it was like glue. In the process of trying to brush it off it got in my nose and my mouth. Not my finest moment. It was a bit tricky to sew with so the kids got more help from me than I wanted. Maybe we'll try again with some cotton next time.

Now the something I hadn't done in a while... Booties. I am quite prolific at crochet hats but the booties happen less often. I love these with the tie because they are so great at staying on babies wiggly feet! They are available now in my shop.

Another first I participated in my first ever swap. Look at all the fun stuff I got! It was a triple zip pouch swap and we stuffed the pouch with goodies. I especially love the Hera marker. I've been wanting one of those. You can see my pouch here. I didn't get a picture of all the fabulous goodies just in case my partner read my blog. Sad thing is, she hasn't taken or posted a picture either and it's been nearly two weeks. It was filled with great stuff like a Moda candy pack, chocolate, tiny scissors, retractable measuring tape, and fabric scraps. I'd call the experience more or less a success and I'd like to try it again.

These are my block corners for the Star Light Star Bright QAL. I had a ton of fun with this one. I did finish these before the deadline for linking up but was too tired to blog about it last night.

Since I finished all the components and the baby was taking an awesome nap I figured I'd just finish these up. It flew together and I love how it finished up. However, I noticed I did something wrong! The block sides were sewn together backwards. The bit closer to the center of the star was supposed to be switched with the bit closer to the outside. It really changes the look of the block and makes what looked like bats in the corner (the whole inspiration for the Halloween fabric) totally disappear. I like the new way and once finished was really not interested in unpicking it so here we go. No one who sees them will know what the original looked like anyway, right?

Last but not least I cut up all the fabric for my commissioned quilt. I also started sewing them together a bit. I'm loving this one and can totally see more of these in my future!

 Well, that's it. I'm really loving how productive I was this week. I hope to get those pillows done quickly and more progress sewing on my commissioned quilt. Thanks for stopping by!

WiP Wednesday: Three Things

I used to be a monogamous quilter. Meaning I would only work on one quilt at a time from start to finish before I cut into or most of the time even purchased fabric for another quilt. Well, that has certainly changed. Right now I have the fabric for probably 20 quilt tops, three bags, and then there's my stash -- that shouldn't count, right? So now I decided a three thing limit is more reasonable, especially since I've been more involved in quilt alongs and such. You can't just only have one project going when you only have about one block a week, or less.

So, here are my three current things. One of which I hope to finish soon so I can start the next thing I'm all jazzed up about.

First up are the block sides for my Star Light Star Bright Quilt Along hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting. These are going to be Halloween pillows and the more I see them come together the more I like them.

This is another Jelly Roll Jam quilt for my shop using the rest of the Spring House roll for Moda. For some odd reason these fabrics are really hard to photograph. I've tried different light and adjusting camera settings and they keep coming up as 80s in a bad way. They are actually quite pretty in person and not this in your face. The quilting is over halfway finished on this one and I hope to get it finished within the next day or two.

This fabric is Sweet Serenade for Moda. It's not my usual style but I'm loving this one. The muted colors are fun and mixing in the black was interesting. This is yet another project for my shop and will end up being the Line Dance quilt found over at Moda Bake Shop. I hope to finish this one later in the month and it is my March goal for ALYoF.

This has been a fun set of projects to be working on and they are all so different. Just this morning my friend offered to pay me to make a quilt for her upcoming granddaughter. I'm so excited to get on that. I think it will help me finish up that jelly roll quilt even faster! Thanks for stopping by.

A Few Fabulous Finishes

I was crazy productive yesterday and this morning and finished up three different things!

First off was this adorable baby quilt. I am in love with this one. The fabric is so beautiful and I tried straight line quilting for the first time. It turned out so well and really adds to the look. This was my goal for ALYoF for February and I'm glad I finished with time to spare. This is also one of my things on my 2014Q1 FAL list (goal post here).

Here's one a little more close up and with the backing. I had the top done on Wednesday and yesterday I basted, quilted and bound this one. This fabric is Jubilee for Moda and is just so fancy. The quilt pattern is Charming Lucy and this quilt is available in my shop.

Well, since I was on a roll I decided to whip out the assignment for my QAL this week. It was crazy fast and the star centers look so good!

Then I cut out and got all the pieces fused and ready to whip up this Triple Zip Pouch which I made this morning. I just love these! This one is for my swap partner. Now I just need to fill it with goodies.

Another one of the 3Zip. My partner said she liked teal and lime and I instantly thought of the Barcelona line for Moda to tie those two colors together. It's so pretty!

I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday and TGIFF.

WiP Wednesday: Here and There

I've done a bit of everything this week which is pretty amazing because I also got sick again. Are my lovely followers seeing a theme? All I do is get sick lately. This time it is strep with a few nasty side things thrown in. I didn't let it stop me though. My hubby says I am an overachiever even on my deathbed. I made a zipper pouch, a crochet hat, my SLSB QAL assignment, and a quilt top. PHEW!

If you saw last week then you know I have a crazy lot of zippers in my possession now. I wanted to try a zipper pouch with my clear vinyl. It didn't really work out perfectly but it was great for a first attempt. My little firefighter loving boy is now the proud owner of this one. It holds his Lego firemen.

I made a blonde version of my Cabbage Patch Inspired Hat. It turned out so cute! It was much faster the second go and easier too. If you love them you can get one in my shop.

Here are the two adorable hats together.

I finished my assignment for this week in the Star Light Star Bright QAL. A bunch of HST all trimmed and ready to go.

I also finished my Jubilee quilt top. The colors are a little off because of the time of day but I was too excited to take it and share. This pattern is called Charming Lucy and it goes together quite quickly. Now I just have to baste, quilt, and bind before the end of the month for my ALYoF goal.

So I'm glad I got things done in spite of my illness but I might just try to take it easy for a while, HA! Okay, maybe not. We'll see. Thanks for stopping by.

WiP Wednesday: Fly, Zip, and Pull

I am so glad that with my crazy busy week I still got a bit of sewing in. A bit being the key term. I made the flying geese for my Happy Quilting Star Light Star Bright QAL. Then I got some fabulous mail jammed with zippers and finally I picked my fabric for my Triple Zip Swap! I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Here are my geese for the QAL. I am making Halloween pillows for the couch. I love them already and all I have is the geese!

Look at this awesome bunch of zippers! There are 100 of them (YKK brand) and I got them for 35 cents a piece! Woot woot! Where you ask? Zip-It on Etsy.

The zippers came just in time to use them in my Triple Zip Swap. I am really excited about this one and my fabric pull. I hope my partner loves it but either way I do already!

So not much done this week but I have big plans, like I always do. I can't wait for that triple zip to take shape and tomorrow I get the next assignment for my QAL. I also hope to get working on the Jubilee quilt that I showed blocks for last week. Thanks for stopping by!