Put it in the DONE pile!

I did quite a bit of stitching yesterday on the skull quilt...but today was all about the finish...and I finally finished Soda Shoppe!  (as in finally binded the quilt...it's only been sitting waiting on binding since mid-April...youch...)

Here it is:

and the really really simple back:

and the details:

Fabric: Vintage Modern by Bonnie&Camille, KONA Snow or White (hard to tell), backing is a basic quilting cotton print I picked up from Hancock's
Pattern: Sugar Almonds
Batting: Warm&White
Thread: Aurifil for piecing and quilting

This quilt belongs to Girl, and she claims to love it...so we are both happy!

Checking in...

Hope you are having as enjoyable a weekend as I!  My plans for a sewathon of a weekend are on pretty good track.  Now, it hasn't been non-stop sewing...had to take care of a few regular weekend items...but it's been a good 75% sewing...so life is uber good!

Yesterday I got this quilt top put together:

Next up is basting it...have the backing fabric ready and waiting, just gotta see if I actually have the batting for it!

And now...the bag...the bag I am 100% in love with!  I have been slowly but surely working on it piece by piece since yesterday evening.  And I am just super excited!  Here it is:

Pattern: the vera bag by Green Bee Sewing Patterns
Fabric: Joel Dewberry Notting Hill Sateen (Kona Med. Gray lining)
Interfacing: Pellon 809
Thread: Aurifil
Happy factor: THROUGH THE ROOF!

Another look:

and the inside:

(LOVE THE POCKETS!)

This pattern was so easy to use.  And I am over the moon (if you couldn't tell) over how the bag looks! I can't wait to swap out from my current handbag to this one!  And a very good possibility I will make another with this pattern in different fabrics!

and next up...I think I am going to make a matching wallet using this pattern:

I'll let you know how it goes!

number 6

Soda Shoppe is now number 6...as in the 6th quilt waiting to be basted, quilted and bound...

First up, a peek at how she looks as a quilt top:

and now...the quilts-in-waiting:

from left to right: Soda Shoppe, Terrain Swoon, Coming Home Ruby, HST QAL, Christmas quilt, and Scrappy Trip...

I think I know what I'll be working on the rest of this week...or maybe not...I could just keep adding to the list!

the naming of a quilt

Soda Shoppe is what I'm calling the quilt I'm currently working on for my Girl.  When she wanted curtains, which resulted in painting her room, her wall color was inspired by fabric she chose for a new quilt...which I told her I'd make her if we painted her room...it all comes full circle.  I let her pick from my stash of Jelly Rolls and she selected Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille (LOVE this line!!!), so I suggested the gray wall color as she could coordinate ANYTHING with it!

Here is what Soda Shoppe currently looks like:

I am using a pattern by Samelia's Mum called Sugar Almonds.  I saw this on a random search of the world wide web a few days ago, and wanted to try it out. 

And now...how it was named...As I was putting the first pieces together, I couldn't help but admire the sweet colors of Vintage Modern...it kind of reminded me of a candy store.  Which for some reason made me think of the old Archie comics and Betty and Veronica.  Then I decided this quilt was definitely more a Betty than a Veronica...which some how got me thinking of the burger joint/soda shoppe that Archie and the gang used to hang out in...so then I really started to think of this quilt as having the colors of a soda shoppe...so I named it Soda Shoppe.  (Don't think on it too hard...even having to repeat my thought process left my head spinning a bit).

So there you go...how I went about naming a quilt. 

And another set of finishes...

These two quilts were delivered today, and well received I might add!

First up - Shake n' Bake (so named because I cut the charms, threw them in a bag, and shook them up.  I then pulled them out and pieced them however they ended up getting pulled out of the bag.)

Details:
Fabric - Kona Steel (backing and binding); charms - Aviary II by Joel Dewberry, Curious Nature by Parson Gray, Seasonal Little Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings, assorted KONA solids
Pattern - ummm...yeah
Thread - Piecing: Gutterman, Quilting: Mettler Metrosene
Batting - Warm and Natural

Next - California Girl (originally started over here)

Details:
Fabric - California Girl by Fig Tree (all of the quilt including the binding)
Pattern - Jelly Roll Race
Thread - Piecing and Quilting: Gutterman
Batting - Warm and White

15 minute challenge...week 13!

Well...let'd dig right in!

Tuesday:  HST BOM...August block finished

Wednesday: HST BOM September block from start to finish

Thursday: none

Friday:  finished Paris Race!!  And made the back for my T-shirt quilt!

Saturday:  none (it was Girl's birthday!)

Sunday:  basted the T-shirt quilt and started quilting

Monday:  nothing
And that's all she wrote for today!  Off to link up at Life in Pieces!

the Race to Paris is finished!

Well...more like my Paris Race quilt is finished!  and I'm so happy to finally get this one done!  It's been sitting waiting on binding since before my machine went in for her checkup a few weeks ago!  But enough is enough...and here it is:

So so so glad to get this done and very soon get it on it's way to it's new home!

Details:

• Fabric: Pom Pom de Paris by French General, Quilter's cotton that I bought at JoAnn's for the binding
• Batting: Warm and White
• Thread: Gutterman (both piecing and quilting)
• Pattern: Jelly Roll Race

15 minute challenge...week 8

so let's just dive in:

Tuesday: Paris Race

Wednesday: none

Thursday: Paris Race

Friday: none

Saturday: Paris Race

Sunday: Swoon and T-shirt Quilt tops finished

Monday: nothing - traveling for business

I spent most of the week sewing for exactly 15 minutes (even set a timer!) just to make it happen.   The majority of the time was spent getting Paris Race quilted.

Now that the Terrain Swoon quilt top is finished, I really have to figure out what I'm going to do for the backing.

In the mean time, I'm ready to get started on my Christmas quilt...I'm going to be using Sweetwater's Countdown to Christmas and I think I'm going to do it using a disappearing nine patch pattern.  (got a couple of charm packs...gotta use them up!).  So that's the next new thing to add to the list.  We'll see how it goes!

Linking up at Life in Pieces.  Have a great week!

a finish and a little BOM!

Woohoo!  Got a lot of sewing accomplished over the weekend!  Sharing just a bit with you today, and the rest tomorrow!

First up, got block 2 done (finally) of the 2012 Designer Mystery BOM by Fat Quarter Shop:

I like the block...not my fave...but I do like it!

and then, because it arrived on Friday...I got block 3 done!

this is my fave block so far!

and because I FINALLY...and I mean FINALLY got this quilt bound...I have a FINISH!!

and the back

and now I'm done...for today!

Quilts with Legs!

I finally (and mean finally) got a quilt done that I started many months ago (think it was March...).  It's been mostly done for a long time (since April), but it has sat and sat...and well over this past weekend I finally finished the quilting!  I'm calling this quilt...Baby Quilt...because that's about all I've got right now!  This quilt is for my youngest niece...who is still a baby....just not a brandy-new baby...she's been around for a little while...I'm going to stop now and just get to the quilt!

Front (and here come the legs...by my lovely Guy!):

Back (and more legs!  it was a bit breezy, so Girl had to jump in and help hold it in place!):

Now all it needs is binding!

Quilt details:

• Fabric: Cape Ann by Oliver + S
• Quilter Cotton Solids (don't know names, from my stash pretty much, just know I bought them at Hancock)
• Thread: Gutterman or Mettler (can't remember which, might have been both!) for piecing; Coats and Clark multi-color for quilting
• Quilting: following this tutorial at Bijou Lovely (great tutorial, watched once and jumped in!)
• Pattern: Jelly Roll Race! (LOVE THESE, very easy to put together in a hurry...or after an extended wait...if you are like me!)

15 minute challenge...week 4

where we make improvement over the previous week, but only after a slow start!  LOL!

Tuesday: nada

Wednesday: nada

Thursday: nada

Friday:  finished the California Race Quilt Top and started working on the back for the Paris Race quilt top that has been finished for an exceptionally long time!

Saturday: finished up piecing the Paris Race quilt back (please ignore the terrible picture quality of the next two pics...having serious issues with aviary in flickr...keeps saving images not as they appear on screen, with added enhancements that I tried to remove!):

Sunday: worked on finishing up my niece's quilt (that has been 75% quilted for two months now, and has just sat there...but now it's all quilted and just waiting on binding!

Monday: nada (I thought about cutting binding strips)

Feeling good!  Progress has been made towards getting some UFOs complete!  Linking up over at Life in Pieces!  Have a great week!

15 minute challenge...Week 2

I did a little better this week on the 15 minute challenge (hosted by Kate at Life In Pieces).

Tuesday I dug in on the last three blocks for the T-shirt quilt and got each one about 75% of the way there:

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...nada...I have found that when I work night-shift...that's the time in the week when I pretty much hit a wall and about all I can do is sleep and eat and work...and think about sewing.

Saturday I got the remaining side done on the T-shirt Quilt blocks and now all I have to do is piece the blocks together.  I also started on the California Race quilt for my Mom:

Sunday I worked on California Race:

Monday was more California Race:

So far I'm feeling really good about joining this challenge.  It's definitely helping me to see when I can actually make time to sew with my work life being as hectic as it is.  Nice part...after this week...back on regular daylight hours for a few weeks; bad news...it's only going to get busier at work between now and September!  It will be interesting to compare this week to a month from now to two months from now...to see how it all changes (or maybe it won't!).  I 'm just happy to be sewing a little more regularly!

Later!

because I can...

...I started a new quilt this weekend...I threw caution to the wind and chose ignore all of those unfinished pieces stacked all over the place...and started a new one of these kinda quilts.  It started with this:

which became this:

and I totally screwed up at one point and had to cut and re-do one piece (got the wrong side sewn to the right side and well...gotta fix those things; and it's hard to actually tell in this pic...which is why I think it was hard for me to realize I was sewing the two parts together wrong in the first place!):

and is slowly...but surely becoming something like this:

a few more steps and the top will be done!

now the truth is...back around Mother's Day my Mom came to visit and I told her to pick from my stash of Jelly Rolls and Fat Quarters some fabric she liked and I would make her a quilt similar to the ones for my nieces.  So she picked the above fabric...and there it sat...until Saturday...when she was on her way for another visit!  So like any good child (who tends to procrastinate, bite off more than she can chew, and is easily bored with one thing and must quickly move to another) would do, I got some sewing done before she arrived so I could show her that I had been diligently working on that which I had promised her.  Yeah, I'm awesome, I know!  LOL!  I'm calling this one the California Race (you know...California Girl fabric...Jelly Roll Race style...I'm so creative!)

Have a great week!  See you tomorrow!

Saturday sewing...

So here is what I worked on yesterday...

started putting the sashing strips on City Lights for Sis:

only got 4 done before I had to call break...to me this is the most boring part of putting a quilt top together...

so to liven things up...did another of these quilts:

still took me a couple of hours...used Cape Ann by Oliver + S fabric...it's intended for my youngest niece...and now it can join the collection of quilt tops awaiting backs and quilting...(the ever growing collection...i really should do something about that)

off to sew more sashing strips!  If I make good progress early today...I may have to go to the fabric store and figure out the backing for this particular quilt...so fingers crossed that I make some progress as I definitely need an excuse to hit the store!

2012 Goals update...and some new WIPs

ok...so here we go...my monthly review of my goals for 2012 (last updated here):

1.  Finish T's Quilt (hasn't been touched since December 10th 2011) lots of progress made...should be finishing up soon!

2.  Finish OUR Quilt (not touched since August 2011) untouched still

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 more done for February!

4.  Blog at least once a week missed last week, but I was recovering from the nasty cold and catching up at work...so I'm giving myself a pass on this one for right now

5.  Complete Pinocchio Cross Stitch did a little bit of stitching early in February...found an error...and haven't touched it since...this may be a road trip project...when and if we go on a road trip

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!) did some clearing out, got rid of some stuff...still lots more to do!

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!) nothing so far

8.  Make at least one quilt just for me! not yet!

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

10.  Make Swoon Terrain Quilt in progress as part of the Swoon-along, 6 of 9 completed, #7 in progress!

11.  Attempt FMQ!  DONE!  

12.  Quilt and bind Girls SQ (before Halloween!) nothing so far

13.  Finish White Rabbit Surprise/Strawberry Swoon (at least do something with the blocks that have been made!) nada

So not a ton of progress made on the goals...BUT...maybe if I didn't keep starting new projects in the middle of trying to complete some other projects!  This week I've worked on this:

Paris Race (using this video) for Girl...

I saw the video...and desperately wanted to try making one...so I let Girl pick a jelly roll (Pom Pom de Paris) and away I went while watching the Daytona 500 this past Monday...and I  took way more than an hour...but before the race ended...I had a completed quilt top!  I will definitely try this again!

and I just started this for my Sis who has moved into a new house and has new furniture...and now needs a new quilt to go with it all!  

I have a hard deadline for the above quilt, as in a few weeks I'll actually get to see my Sis...so other goals may get pushed to the side (again!).  Fabric is Curious Nature by Parson Gray (love love love this fabric!) and the quilt pattern is City Lights from the book City Quilts by Cherri House.

That's it for now!  Hope you have a great rest of your weekend!