On quilt bees and other things

I love getting my bee blocks done early in the month.  It's nice to have them finished and in the mail before the end of the month.

First up is a single girl knock-off for Sam in my local bee.  She used the pattern and created paper piecing templates similar to the original pattern.  This came together so fast.  If you are thinking about making the single girl, buy the pattern and create your own paper piecing templates for the rings. I have owned the pattern for two years, but haven't done anything with it.  After working on this block, I'm motivated to pull it out and trace my own templates for paper piecing and give it a try. 

Next up is a crazy-busy block for Felicity in our Stash Trad Bee.  These little churn dash blocks are only 6" finished.  They are going to make a super cute scrappy quilt.

Finally an improv pineapple block for Angela from the Sew Beautiful Bee.  I honestly loved this block.  I'm thinking really seriously about using her idea and some of my Heather Ross fabric. 

In iron news, I did make a new purchase.  I'm loving it so far--no fires and smoke are a good thing.    I have vowed to rarely put water in it and hopefully make it last for a very long time.  Thanks for all your comments.  I knew there would be a ton of different opinions, but there was some really good info in the comments that helped me weigh my options and make a decision. Keeping my fingers crossed this one lasts longer than two weeks. 

And finally, to add to the list of media time-wasters in my life, my sister encouraged me to get on Instagram and Draw Something.  My user name for Instagram is "the_blue_chair" and "the blue chair" on Draw Something in case you need more media time-wasters as well.

I am cursed by the iron gods

So, I haven't had superb luck with irons, but today was a little scary.

My last iron died.  It just stopped working.  The one before that overheated and scorched some fabric.  I bought this new one just two weeks ago and have already had issues.  It was steaming constantly and occasionally leaking water onto my fabric as I ironed.  Ironically, I planned to return it to Target this morning, but ran out of time.  This afternoon my twins are sleeping, and I thought I'd sneak in a bee block while it was quiet.  I figured the iron still works relatively well despite the steam issue, I'll just use it one more time before returning it.

As I walked into the laundry room to iron my pieces, I thought, "Wow, that's really putting out a lot of steam."  Then I realized it was not steam, but smoke.  In just the few steps it took to cross the room it turned to a dark grey smoke pouring out of the top of the iron.  I quickly unplugged it and ran outside with it.  I put it under the outside faucet, drenching it with water to cool it down. Afterward, I started to freak out a bit.  What if I had left it for a few minutes?  What if I hadn't caught it just as it started to smoke?  Things definitely could have been worse than a smoke-filled laundry room.

I haven't ventured into the realm of expensive irons.  I usually stick to the $30-$40 range.  I'm now debating on what to do about a new iron.  Should I get a nice one?  This is iron #3 in about 1 1/2 years.  It seems I might need to do something different. 

What is your favorite iron?

WIP Wednesday 5.9.12

I haven't participated in Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday recently.  Mostly because my main project is one I can't share pictures of right now.  It's always fun to have a secret project.  I plan to quilt it this week!  You'll see pictures in a few months.

My current project on the wall is my progress for the Retro Flowers Quilt from Sometimes Crafter.  I admit these blocks are getting the best of me.  I cut these out with my Go and then trimmed because I don't think I'd ever have the patience to actually cut them by hand.  The sewing is slow.  I was able to get a nice stack of the curves pieced at our guild Sewing Saturday then finished them over the weekend.  I'm thinking this project might go back in the bag for a while.  I think I need a little break from these guys.  Don't get me wrong, I love how they are turning out.  The quilt design is adorable, I've just realized it's not my favorite type of piecing.  They'll come out again in a few weeks hopefully. 

Also, I finished my Color Quilt last night!  I can't tell you how excited I am about this one.  I have literally been working on this one all year.  My first post about it was in January.  I'm so excited to share, but I think I'll save it for the Bloggers Quilt Festival next week.  I love participating in Amy's festival.  I was planning to do a simple grey binding on the quilt, but with the hub's encouragement I went scrappy.  It really is a perfect addition to the quilt.  Here is my stack of fabric for the binding--organized by the color wheel of course!

For the coming week I hope to quilt my secret quilt and whip up three bee blocks.  I also plan to pull a nice stack of pink fabric for a twin quilt for my niece.  My SIL "commissioned" me to make her a quilt like the Bubble Baby Quilt I made earlier this year, and I'm excited to give it a try.

What are you working on this week?

Grateful

Thanks for all your kind comments last week.  Events surrounding my grandma's funeral all went well.  I had such mixed feelings because she was 88 years old and lived a good, long life.  There is still sadness, but it was also enjoyable seeing family I haven't seen in years.

Miss C and I took a trip back home for the funeral.  We left the hubs and the twins to fend for themselves.  Three of my four siblings made it home.  My youngest brother from Boston didn't make it, but we understood his absence considering his wife gave birth to their second child just four days before the funeral.

I returned to the normal craziness including two little kiddos who seemed to have saved all their grumpiness for me while I was gone.  I did get to sew on Saturday for our guild sewing day.  That's always a highlight.

I've been thinking a lot recently about how grateful I am for things.  Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with all I try to fit in.  I get frustrated will all the little petty things in life.  My life gets a bit frantic and very frustrating with three small kiddos.  I even get overwhelmed with all the blogs I follow and projects I see.  For some reason I see all this great inspiration and feel like I have to keep up with everyone, make spectacular projects constantly, and do it all right now.  I seem to forget what is right in front of me, what I have, and what I have actually accomplished.  It's too easy to compare ourselves.

I was reminded last week how much I have as I again heard stories of how little my grandma had and how difficult her life really was at times.  She grew up in poverty, lost her first husband in a hunting accident when my dad was just five years old, then married again to the man I knew as Grandpa, but the marriage was very difficult for many, many years.  Through it all she was a survivor.  She raised four children and two step-children, and has 26 grandchildren and 83 great-grandchildren with four more on the way very soon.  Her family was always very important to her.

Right now I'm trying to focus a bit more on what I'm grateful for and enjoy it.  I'm grateful for my cute little family, for a home that keeps us safe and warm, for a husband who supports and loves me, and for a hobby that is fun for me and brings many wonderful people into my life.  Even though I will never meet many of you, I appreciate the chance to get to "know" so many great, creative people who love this crazy hobby just like I do.  Thanks so much to all of you for sharing what you love.  That's what this whole blogging thing is really about--just sharing what we love.

Finally, just a few fun pictures from recent days around here of some "things" I'm grateful for.

Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Slash the Stash--April Edition

It's been a bit quiet around the blog the past week or two.  I almost didn't get Slash the Stash up for April.  Life gets busy, hectic, and hard sometimes.  My grandmother passed away Thursday, and I've been dealing with lots of mixed emotions.  We have multiple family events planned for the week, so it will be quiet around here for another week or so.

Despite the lack of posting, I have done a fair bit of sewing.  I have learned when I'm dealing with stress and difficult things I tend to do two things--sew and eat.  Probably not the best coping skills, but both tend to be enjoyable when other things aren't.

Although I didn't finish any stash busting projects this month I started several.  Three of which were off-shoots from the quilts I made my cousin.  I originally tried to incorporate other pieced blocks with my designs for her quilts.  After auditioning these various blocks, I realized it wasn't working.  For some reason, instead of just making one block, I cut fabric from my stash for 10-18 blocks for each different design.  You will be seeing these made into baby quilts in the near future since they are all cut and ready to sew.

First up I cut 18 blocks for the Retro Flowers quilt from The Sometimes Crafter.  I love how these blocks come out, but they are not my favorite to sew.  It's a bit tricky getting everything to line up just right.

When the Retro Flowers weren't working, I tried this block.  I cut out 10 blocks for this design, and will be adding at least two more.  I love how the blocks work together to create a great secondary design.

Finally when that didn't work, I tried granny squares.  I was thinking of doing these as a design on the back but changed my mind.   I only have one sewn up for now, but have at least 12 cut and ready to sew.

I also made great progress on my scrappy improv quilt back for my color quilt.  I have loved this project.  It's been so fun to put together.  Improv piecing is such a great change of pace from the precision required in other projects I have going on.  This pieced section is about 55" x 55".  Almost all of these fabrics were pulled from my scrap boxes.  I thought this project would make such a great dent in each box.  It didn't.  In fact, I can hardly tell that I sewed anything from my scraps.  Those boxes are still just as full as ever.  It might be time to destash some scraps. I'll be sashing this in Kona white then basting and quilting this monster soon.  One of my goals for May is to finish this quilt.

Now it's your turn!  What did you make from your stash this month?!

Two special little quilts

Recently my cousin, J, asked me to create two little quilts.

These quilts are certainly different from my normal style, but very special.  After years of infertility, J and her husband chose to build their family through adoption and now have two adorable little boys.  Just a few months ago they were shocked to learn, out of the blue, that they are pregnant--with identical twin girls.  These special little girls needed special little quilts.

J's mom and my dad were siblings.  Her mom passed away nine years ago from a brain aneurism, just one year after my dad died from cancer.  Her mom was working on these flower applique blocks before she died.  J asked if I would create quilts for her daughters using the blocks her mom hand-stitched.  I was honored to have the chance to work on this project.

I struggled with these quilts a bit.  I just couldn't decide on the perfect pattern or design to use.  I honestly went through three other designs before deciding on this final design.  I debated adding other pieced blocks, but finally, I decided that these quilts needed to be simple, just accenting my aunt's work.  I used Jenny's Quick Curves Ruler to cut the scallops.   After searching and searching for fabrics that matched these flowers, I discovered that Art Gallery had two perfect pinks to match: Cherry Lip Gloss and Crystal Pink.

I wanted the quilts to be almost the same, but with slight differences.  Switching the colors of the borders achieved just the effect I wanted. 

I quilted little flowers with stipling on the white section.

 
I used two Michael Miller prints from the Children at Play line for the backings and bindings, again reversing them on the quilts. 

 

I feel my work might reflect my aunt's original intentions for her blocks.  I'm thrilled her granddaughters will have something from her.  It gives these little quilts so much more meaning.  Hopefully, one day, they will know what a wonderful woman their grandma was. 

Brrr! Giveaway Winner!

It seems everyone is very excited about Laurie's new fabric!

Mr. Random chose #17! 

That is:

17

knottygnome said...

love the chevrons! thanks for the giveaway.

April 13, 2012 6:28 AM

Congrats!  I'll be in touch!