Starburst Finish

I'm so excited to have finally finished a quilt for my bed!  I haven't made one for my bed since just before I went off to college twelve years ago.  I got the fabric - Bella by Lotta Jansdotter - for my birthday in November and joined up with the Starburst quilt-a-long over at Happy Quilting.  Sadly my VERY difficult pregnancy prevented me from finishing up with everyone else but it's done now and happily on my bed!!

I finished the binding on this one late Wednesday night (4/10).  It's been a rainy yucky mess here and to avoid mud on my newly finished quilt I took the pictures inside.  The lighting isn't fabulous but it's better than mud!  It finished up at about 96" square and is perfect for my queen-size bed even with my cover hog hubby. ;)

Here's a closeup of the quilting.  I took it to my local quilter and she did an allover swirl and leaves pattern that I think perfectly fits the fabric and the quilt!  It gives it more of the fall vibe that I was feeling when I made this one.

It looks fabulous on my bed!  I'm just in love!  I think it's a great size and brightens up the room.  Although the room brightening may have something to do with the fact that this is the cleanest my room has been in months.

Here's a shot from the bottom of the bed. It just makes me want to climb in!  I got the orange sheets on major clearance at Target and they perfectly match my orange star and the backing that is also orange. I'm typically not a huge fan of orange but I'm loving this slight burnt color and it's perfect for the fall feel I wanted for the quilt.

I'm linking up with Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

WiP Wednesday: Quilt Progress

I'm so excited about my the progress with my quilts this week.  I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.  First I nearly finished my Russian quilt and then I finally got my Starburst quilt back from the quilter all it needs is binding!

Here's the Russian quilt.  It's kind of got a herringbone pattern going on.  I am loving how the rows turned out.  Now I just have to sew the 14 rows together cut off the points and it's ready for quilting.

Speaking of quilting I finally got my Starburst quilt back from the quilter.  I say finally because she had it for four weeks!  She said 2-3 and it took four.  It was a long wait.  Now I just have to bind it and take a million pictures before it goes on my bed.

Here's a picture of more or less the whole quilt.  It is queen size so really hard to get it all in the camera frame at the same time.  I love the quilting but what I notice from this picture is that some of the gray fabric that I know is all the same looks different.  Is there a right and a wrong side and I just didn't know?!  I looked and studied it when I first got it and couldn't tell but now it's glaring.  The fabric is Art Gallery Pure Elements in Ash.  Oh well, it's still wonderful.

I made no progress on my other projects either quilty or crochet but I hope to this week since these two are so close to being done!  Thanks for stopping by!

Starburst Quilt-a-Long Top Finish

 After nearly two days of intensive work I finished the top for my Starburst Quilt-A-Long hosted by the fabulous Melissa of Happy Quilting.  I love it as much as I thought I would!!  It went together super fast especially considering I only had the various components Friday night (like the flying geese and half-square triangles).  I'm having a hard time picking a favorite block.  The fabric is Bella by Lotta Jansdotter.  The quit is 95" square with 40" blocks.  It will be living on my bed when it is finished and will be the first quilt I've made for my bed, it's about time I got to me.

Here's the yellow version.  It's so bright and cheery!

The orange block.  I am not a huge fan of orange but I just love this one!

The teal, much like the orange with a different gray fabric.  I love the bird in the tree.  I wanted this print for the back but my favorite online fabric shop The Intrepid Thread didn't have enough.  She had a great substitute though which I'll show off after it's quilted.

This color of blue is my favorite color ever.  So of course this block is the best one.  I love the flower print!

It was super cold and quite windy while I was taking this picture but the wind managed to press it against the garage and I finally got off a decent shot.  I'll take more after it's quilted but I'm so excited I finished the top!!

I'm glad my hurt finger held out long enough for me to finish up the quilt!  I kept banging it and oh man the pain!  Otherwise it wasn't too bad as sewing really doesn't use your middle finger too much.  Now to rest a bit and let it heal some more.

OUCH! and a Little Progress

I figured since it was a new month it was the perfect time to get back into the groove. It's been just over a month since my last post but I haven't done much because of this rough pregnancy.  I kept thinking I'd feel better and it kept not happening.  Now I think I have the nausea under control and I decided to get back into crafting.  Unfortunately after only about an hour I sliced a chunk of my finger off with my rotary cutter.  OUCH!!  A LOT!!!

It happened to be the middle finger on my left hand which makes this picture funny but probably mildly offensive.  My hubby came to talk to me while I was trimming some HST down.  He surprised me and I turn to look at him and cut off the corner of my middle finger.  I removed quite a bit and there was a lot of pain and blood.  My amazing friend took the two kids we had at home while my hubby took me to the hospital.  The doc said it wasn't that bad and the chunk I lost will grow back without any deformity.  I think if something has to "grow back" it's pretty serious.  It hurt like crazy as they were checking it out but the lovely doctor had compassion on me and numbed it up.  He was my new best friend!

I had 64 HST to trim but only got through 30 before I hacked off my finger.  It was still numb when I came home but the doc said it would hurt in a few hours, especially if I bumped it.  I was totally afraid of my rotary cutter but I wanted to get back on the horse.  I finished the remaining 34 HST.  The numbness started to wear off near the end but I figured it would be worse tomorrow so I just got it done.  I'm so happy now all I have left is to put the blocks together for my Starburst Quilt-a-Long.

A few weeks ago I finished the flying geese portion of the Starburst Quilt-a-long.  I wasn't up to blogging and since this was all I had I just waited until I had more progress.  Melissa's no waste method was pretty awesome and they turned out pretty straight which is always a problem with me and geese.  See the tutorial here.

I'm also working on a crocheted blanket for my baby due early August.  I'm loving how it is turning out.

It's so unlike me to go almost a month with only this much to show for it but at least I finally have done something.  Hopefully next time I feel up to crafting I won't have another accident.  Once is enough.  I have big plans for this month which hopefully include two quilt finishes a few small projects and some exciting starts.  I feel kind of sheepish because I've been using a rotary cutter for 16 years now with no incidents and then one moment of inattention and my perfect record was broken.

I'm linking up with Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily's Quilts.  Since I'm a small blog with 35 wonderful followers I am also linking up with the Small Blog Meet. Thanks for stopping by and I hope this month goes better!

Cut and Sew - Happy Progress

I am slowly slowly starting to feel better and get back into the sewing groove.  This pregnancy is really kicking my trash! I've made a lot of progress this week and I'm excited to share.

First off I cut into my Little Kukla fabric for my newest niece.  I'm really excited about this quilt.  I decided to do a herringbone sort of pattern with these two fabrics.

The idea came when I saw this picture on pinterest of a grey and white herringbone quilt found here. I loved it but I wanted a bit more color.  She also used HST and I am using smaller diamonds.  I love pinterest for inspiration!

I also made great progress on my Starburst Quilt-a-Long hosted by the wonderful Melissa of Happy Quilting.  I finished this week's assignment just in time to be entered in the drawing, woohoo!  Hopefully next week I'll have a bit more than a few hours of buffer room.

WiP Wednesday: In the Groove

I've been blogging off and on for a while now because of some never-ending sickness but I feel like I'm finally getting back into the groove.  I actually have interest in sewing right now and that is a very good sign and timely too since I'm in the middle of a quilt-a-long and gearing up for a fun hop.  I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

First let's start with my most important work-in-progress.  A baby!

We are so excited to add baby number five to our family.  My first four were really close together. Our oldest was four when the fourth one was born.  This one is a little more spread out.  The youngest will be three and the oldest almost eight.  I've been horribly ill this time around, much more so than with any other baby.  Since I'm twelve weeks along now I hope it ends soon!

Now the finish...

One of my long-time friends saw a cute Mickey Mouse hat on Pinterest and asked that I make it for her.  The pattern wasn't for sale but I made up my own pretty easily.  I love how it turned out!  Since it was a baby hat it was super fast when I finally got around to making it.  

 I also started a new quilt this week as part of the Starburst quilt-a-long...

It took me quite a while to get the cutting done for this quilt because I kept having to take frequent breaks due to the baby illness.  I was so excited when I finally got it all cut out last night.  Melissa at Happy Quilting, who is hosting the quilt-a-long, has a giveaway if you finish the assignment within the week.  I was too late for the giveaway but I'm really excited I finished it at all!

This quilt comes in three different sizes and they each use 12 fat quarters and some solid yardage.  I figured I might was well make the largest one, about 95" square.  The fabric for this is Bella by Lotta Jansdotter and you can see all my picks in this post here.

 I also have another baby quilt waiting on my cutting table.

My hubby's brother and his wife are expecting their first baby in May.  When they found out it was a girl I knew I had to have this fabric for them.  He lived in Russia for a while and this fabric is just perfect!

I feel like I'm finally getting my groove back and I hope to create more this week than I have in the past two months!  Thanks for stopping by!

WiP Wednesday: Begin Again

It has been weeks since I've done anything crafty.  I've been horribly ill for weeks now and I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm doing slightly better but not back to my old self yet, maybe in a few more weeks.  I believe I will be me again at some point, right? We'll call that my most important work-in-progress.  I do have a few things that I've been working on and an exciting to start too!  I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

I am most excited about the Starburst Quilt-A-Long hosted by the fabulous Melissa at Happy Quilting.  I've been happily waiting for this for weeks now and I'm so excited it's finally here!!

I'm really excited about the fabric for the Starburst quilt.  This is what I'll be using.  It's Bella by Lotta Jansdotter.  I bought this with my birthday money and am so happy I found something great to use it for so soon.  Each star uses three fabrics and I've grouped them how I plan on pairing them.  I will be using a light gray background so you can see all the white prints.  The quilt-a-long has posts every Monday for several weeks, I can't wait to get started!

I began this Mickey Mouse hat right before I got sick.  It's for the baby of a friend of a friend.  It just has a tiny bit of work left on it and I am finally feeling up to getting it done and in the mail.  It's going to be adorable!

I hope you all have a good week and that I can be half as productive as I want to be.  Thanks for stopping by!