Project Quilting, S3, Challenge #2

This week at

the challenge was Music...which normally is no problem for me, I'm usually blaring the music when I'm sewing...or doing just about anything these days...and lately I've been 100% hooked on Mumford & Sons and Green River Ordinance...I mean...morning, noon and night I've got those two playing...but as much as I love their music...nothing solid came to mind when it was time to start putting together my piece...so I switched it up...put the iPod on shuffle, and it hit me, "You're My Home" by Billy Joel.  LOVE IT!  and that led to this:

I originally wanted to print a picture of Girl and Guy on fabric and make that the bottom window, but I cannot find the fabric printing stuff I have (I think it's an iron-on thing)...so I put together the house without the picture, but it just wasn't "enough" (not to mention in person the house is really really wonky...so I needed something to help with that!).  So I used velcro to add my picture!  I like it much better now...

I dug into my scrappy stash for a few bits and bobs, some ribbon from Tim Holtz idea-ology that I dyed using my Peeled Paint Distress Stain, and added a button for a door knob and a bit of Prima flowery bling to add a "tree" to balance out that side.

It's a very very rough idea of our actual house...only our grass is never as neat or as green as the quilt!

The finished mini is 12" x 10", all created from my fabric stash (Kona and Bella solids, and a bit of Sandy Gervais' Giddy line for the sky).

Have a great Sunday!

2012 Goal Update...and a new Toy!

As January comes to a close...here is where I stand:

1.  Finish T's Quilt (hasn't been touched since December 10th 2011) nada so far

2.  Finish OUR Quilt (not touched since August 2011) see goal #1

3.  Complete at least 2 FWQAL blocks a month (this was becoming an overwhelming project last year, so I'm hoping to keep it honest and accept that it won't be 2 blocks a week!) got 2 done for January, post to follow soon

4.  Blog at least once a week so far so good

5.  Complete Pinocchio Cross Stitch this one is touch and go, and hasn't been touched in 2 weeks

6.  Relocate sewing space to craft room (currently sew in the living room, and rarely use my office/craft room...I want that changed!  will also require a LOT of reorganizing and cleaning and getting rid of stuff!) more planning than actual action right now

7.  Make a Christmas Quilt in time for it to be used at Christmas!  (so wanted to do this last year...didn't get around to it!) it's only January, 10 months to work on it!

8.  Make at least one quilt just for me! ummm...nothing so far

9.  Attempt applique on at least one quilt (mini-quilt would work here!) same as above

10.  Make Swoon Terrain Quilt in progress, blocks 3 and 4 of 9 in progress!

11.  Attempt FMQ!  DONE!  and more to come, it's so much fun!

12.  Quilt and bind Girls SQ (before Halloween!) plenty of time to get to this one

13.  Finish White Rabbit Surprise/Strawberry Swoon (at least do something with the blocks that have been made!) think I have an idea for this one, but it's still a WIP

So far, not too bad...I'm happy with what I've accomplished so far, and that's all that matters!

Now...the new toy...courtesy of my honey-bunny...he gifted me with this for our Anniversary:

It's AWESOME!!!!!  

What a week...and some Swoon!

The past 7 days have been hell on earth for me, and I've had some other things come up, you can read more on that here...thankfully I had today to spend with the love of my life Guy!  We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary today...and it was a great day!

Got to work last night on cutting out Block #3 for the Swoon-along...but that was a nightmare!  One of my FQs was just way off and I couldn't get all required pieces from it...thankfully a trip to my LQS today gave me a different option and I can get back in gear on it soon!

SInce Block #3 was being a pain...I started on block #4:

Loving this particular fabric combo!

Back tomorrow to update you on my 2012 goals!

Swoon-along Block #2

Progress continues on  my Terrain Swoon!  The Swoon-along "rough" goal of 1 block a week is fabulous!  Definitely not feeling overwhelmed or anything with that goal...plus it gets me sewing on the weekends, which leads to more sewing, which means Mama is having fun!

Here is Block #2:

and the two blocks completed so far:

now to work on (and hopefully really come close to finishing) Coming Home Ruby!

Project Quilting, S3, Challenge #1

 

Oh wow...I was initially really stumped when the first challenge for this season of Project Quilting was posted...I had NO idea what I was going to do...and I love architecture, in particular that of Frank Lloyd Wright...something about the clean lines, modern feel...yet at harmony with it's environment...but how to convey that in a quilted piece...

so I hit the internet...just a random "architecture" in the search bar, and then images...and ta-da...one of the first ones up:

image from Pleat Farm 

Chapel in Villeaceron by S-M.A.O. 

I was blown away!  And I knew instantly what my inspiration would be...sort of...at first I thought I could create a reproduction of the image above using fabric...but I was really concerned about working with so many angles and having to bind an incredibly odd shaped piece...but I was intrigued by the play of shadows and how the color of the building appeared to change depending on the angle of the sun, where the photo was taken from, etc.  I then came across this image:

image from Pleat Farm

and BOOM!  I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  I love how the view inside the building, with the sunlight coming in the windows created so many different angles and shapes, so my goal became to recreate the above image, using only solids, to give the play on light and dark.

Here is my piece:

I love it!  It finishes approx. 13 x 15 and all fabrics were pulled from my stash and scrap pile.  The thread used for the quilting (Gutterman) was $2.77 on sale.

Oh and note the FMQ?  Yeppers!  Cross off 2012 Goall #11!  More on that later!

You can check out the other Project Quilting projects at the PQ Flickr group.

Swoon-along block #1

Woohooo!  It took me a good chunk of time...but block #1 of my Terrain Swoon that I'm working on as part of the Swoon-along is done!

and I LOVE it!  Block #2 next week!

what to do...

Got some sewing done early this morning...and finally finished the Coming Home Ruby quilt top!!!

but now...I'm stuck...no idea what I want to do with the back...and I really need to get this particular quilt crossed off my list!  But...I've decided to at least set it aside for now (a few hours at least)...maybe something will come to me at random!

anyways...started pulling apart my FQB of Terrain to start picking fabrics for my Terrain Swoon Quilt as part of the Swoon-along!  And here is what I've decided (for now at least):

I'll be using some Kona Snow for the background...I'm excited about this quilt...love the bright colors!  Well that's it for now...hopefully lightning strikes (the idea kind of lightning) and I'll know what to do about that quilt back...otherwise...I'm anxiously awaiting contemplating what do for the Project Quilting Season 3 Challenge #1 that should be posted soon! that is up and running!

making progress...with a little help from the web!

So happy it's the weekend...and we've been completely lazy today!  I've done some stitching...and some web browsing...an well...here's where I'm at...

Spent some time working on Coming Home Ruby:

almost done putting the second border on!  I'm going very slowwww...not trying to feel rushed or pushed to finish!  (heck...i'm even pinning...and I will normally do anything to avoid using pins!!!!)

I spent a little bit of time on some cross stitch...working towards 2012 goal #5...

and...in the web hopping...found out some other folks out there have had similar intentions to finishing up a Swoon quilt, and thankfully Katy Jones from Fat Quarterly has decided to host this:

The Swoon-Along!  This will definitely help me out towards completing 2012 goal #10!!!!   Here is the fabric I'll be using (bought months ago for just this purpose) and the Swoon-tastic pattern:

and now...it's time for some football (I have to say...love me some NFL Gameday Morning on the NFL Network...these guys crack me up!!!)!  Later!

Goals...

So for 2012 I have a few goals...so I figured I'd go ahead and publish them so that I can track them (and remember them later!), but also to keep myself honest with the progress!  So here we go:

1.  Finish T's Quilt (hasn't been touched since December 10th 2011)
2.  Finish OUR Quilt (not touched since August 2011)
3.  Complete at least 2 FWQAL blocks a month (this was becoming an overwhelming project last year, so I'm hoping to keep it honest and accept that it won't be 2 blocks a week!)
4.  Blog at least once a week
5.  Complete Pinocchio Cross Stitch (more on this later)
6.  Relocate sewing space to craft room (currently sew in the living room, and rarely use my office/craft room...I want that changed!  will also require a LOT of reorganizing and cleaning and getting rid of stuff!)
7.  Make a Christmas Quilt in time for it to be used at Christmas!  (so wanted to do this last year...didn't get around to it!)
8.  Make at least one quilt just for me!
9.  Attempt applique on at least one quilt (mini-quilt would work here!)
10.  Make Swoon Terrain Quilt
11.  Attempt FMQ!
12.  Quilt and bind Girls SQ (before Halloween!)
13.  Finish White Rabbit Surprise/Strawberry Swoon (at least do something with the blocks that have been made!)

So...there you have it!  Nothing too crazy...some items would be fairly easy to complete over a weekend of sewing once a month (at least!)...I'll be checking in and updating these at least once a month...maybe more frequently if I really start making progress!

End...and then Begin!

Happy New Year (and a belated very Merry Christmas!)...as I recover from the post-holiday hangover (figuratively...not so much literally!)...and as I start the New Year (still can't believe it's 2012...I'm still trying to figure out where the heck 2011 went!)...it's time to close out one project that was finished several weeks ago...and share with you a new (sort of) project that i started several weeks ago...but will end up as the first finish of 2012!

First up...the end...finished this project right after Thanksgiving...a friend had requested a quilt similar to the one I made for Guy...only in a different set of school colors and fabrics (this actually kind of hurt to put together...but hey...not everyone can be perfect and love the LONGHORNS!)...so here it is:

Top:

Back:

I'm calling this one TTH's quilt...since it was for my friend TT's hubby!  and there ends the 2011 quilts!

and now...to Begin...

I actually started this one several weeks ago...it was a gift for a friend who was welcoming a new little one to the family in November...Originally this quilt was going to be made up of this...but it ended up not doing it for me when I started to think about the little girl it was going to...so...I got to work...

specifically this pattern...

and a little bit of this...

and a little more of that (original # of squares required for the pattern was going to end up with a piece just a bit small for what I wanted...so did a double set of squares)...

and I started to end up with a little of this...

which today...became this...

(many thanks to Girl...the ultimate quilt model!)  it now just need some borders added to the top...and for me to piece together the back...and get it quilted...and bound...etc...

so there we have it...an End to the 2011 Quilts...and a Beginning to the 2012 Quilts!

Happy 2012 all!  Hope your begin is as productive and satisfying as mine!