W.i.P. Wednesday #11

*** Wow. I am so off. Today is Thursday. oh well. :) ***


The first things that come to mind when thinking of all my in progress projects are: laundry, dishes, and general cleaning. Those things never seem to get finished. ;) Though sometimes it seems that none of my sewing projects ever get finished either, at least they are a lot more fun to think about. :) (plus I'm sure no one wants to see pictures of the piles of clothes that need to be washed or folded, or the dishes piled up in my sink, or the fridge that needs to be cleaned out. maybe another day. lol.) :)


Finished Projects: uh... still working on this... though I am SUPER close with so many of them, I'm crossing my fingers that next week will be packed in this category!

In Progress Projects:
Kaleidoscope QAL, boy is this one going to be tricky. I can't wait to have it finished and I know it will look great... if I can get my squares to sew right. :)

Here's a little sneak peak of my Pretty {little} Pouch Swap pouch. I think I might have a hard time giving this one away. ;) It's all ready to be put together! almost done! :)

I didn't actually make all these matchbooks, the young women did (which saved me a ton of time) plus they all turned out so cute. Now to add a finishing touch to them and they're ready for next week!

I have this stack of fun fabrics which will be turned into a million reversible pocket tissue covers. I realized that it really is hard to pick out fabric for people!!! You think you know someone and what they like, and then when you try to pick a pattern that they will also like, at least for me, it made me feel like I don't even know them! Some were easy, but boy oh boy I hope they like them! :)

Here is the pile of fabric that is waiting to be cut for my nieces quilt. It's going to be a BIG one!!  At least bigger than I've ever done. All of those prints are going to be cut 5 1/2" by 5 1/2" and have a finished 1" boarder in 21 shades of 7 colors. Then they will be randomly sewed all together in 12 x 13 block strips. With 156 total blocks! I think it will be really cute! I'm excited to see how it turns out. As she was picking out the fabric she found some extra turquoise minky that I didn't use for another project and fell in love with it (and wants it for the back)! This project is almost going to be completely from my stash! I feel so good about that. :)

can I also add this post! ;) that and updating my side bar. :) I love lists.

I guess that's it for now... though I'm sure there are more in progress items, but this is what I'm currently focusing on. Until next week, Happy Sewing!! :)

Ei-yi-yi!

Have you ever seen "The Gods Must Be Crazy"? That show cracks me up!!! In it there is this guy that is the biggest klutz and after every thing that happens to him he always says that, "Ei-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Well, that's how I feel about everything right now.

Last night I tried to start piecing my half blocks together for my Kaleidoscope quilt, but I am having p.r.o.b.l.e.m.s.  Either I get a weird protruding center - like they have outie belly buttons, or the points don't line up, and anyway, it is driving my crazy. :P I don't even know what to do to fix it - which is rather frustrating. I have this whole wall of half squares to sew together and I can't do it. I must have really messed up sewing my triangles together? I don't know.

 

Then I found out who my partner is for the For Love of Solids swap, and she is one of those quilters that I can only dream about being as good as she is, so having her as a partner - and having to make something FOR her, is rather intimidating and takes me quite out of my comfort zone. I don't even know where to begin to think about what to make for her. ;) It will be a lot of fun, but for the moment I'm content to just sit here and look at that swap from a distance.

Then I just have a lot of projects to finish by tomorrow for girls camp next week, and I don't really know where to start (even though I just finished one thing and it only took me about 5 min). I think this just makes me more tired than frustrated.

My niece is in town and the other night we picked out all the fabric for a quilt I'm going to make for her. Then my sister and I stared at it all for a long time and decided to start over and make her pick a different pattern. (I honestly think it would have taken me a year to finish it, though it would have been SUPER cute! Maybe I'll have to make a mini quilt in the same style.) Anyway, we kept most of the same fabrics, but picked a simpler design and in the end I think it will look fantastic!!! Plus be so much easier and faster. :) But for the moment it's just another pile of fabric to look at. (though it's nice to think that we found all the fabric in my stash and we won't have to buy any. It's such a good feeling to use things up!)

I also have a number of things that I should just sew the bindings on so when I'm just sitting and can't be at my machine, I can at least have some hand stitching that I'd be able to work on and do.

So really, it's not that I'm frustrated, I just feel overwhelmed, and all of a sudden have this feeling that sewing is hard. I've never thought of it as hard before. But I guess this week is my week. I'm hoping it will pass.... soon.

plus, I need to get some blogging done that I'm way behind on... just one more thing. ;)

W.i.P. Wednesday #10

Wow, time is flying! I can't believe it's already past the middle of July! and I keep missing Wednesdays and I keep forgetting what I've finished, what I've already posted about, and what I'm trying to work on. ;)


I have a few things that I've finished by still need to bind:

First, that wedding present that I still can't show you yet.

Second, the Lola's Coin Quilt! I love this one. I just can't decided if I want to bind it in orange or this teal that matches so well.

 

What do you think??? Orange or Teal?

I think this is the best picture so far to see how I quilted it. Kind of random wonky straight lines, and then I love the outlines of the tree and flowers. :)

I also finished up all my mug rugs. (but then I started another one) :)

Can I also count that I finally patched my hubby's jeans? It's finished so I will say yes! :)

(for some reason I always throw unfinished projects in under my finished section. I don't know...)

In Progress:
My Kaleidoscope QAL quilt: Did you see how I made my design wall with the batting I'm going to be using for the quilt?! It is working out so well! It's so nice to just take a piece down, sew it, and put it back. I also love how fast it's coming together now that I'm sewing more pieces together! Though I still have to cut out some more white. I didn't have enough and had to order some more. But it's washed and ready to cut now. I am loving this!

New Projects:
Boy is this list going to be long. ;)

Mostly I've started a bunch of flickr group bee's and swaps. SO FUN!
First is the Pretty {Little} Pouch Swap. There are so many cute pouches being made and I can't wait to see what comes my way. It's tough though, the more people finish and post, the more comments my partner leaves and then I get more ideas of what I should make her, and what she would like.Right now I have two ideas. I think I'll just make them both and see what she wants. I'm sure the one she won't want I will be just fine keeping. :)

I also signed up for the For the Love of Solids [a Modern Swap]. I think this will be great and can't wait to get started. Check it out! Sign ups close today.

 
Here's my mosaic that I put together. I think I would really like a big bag that I can throw towels in and head to the pool, or for other big activities like that. :) 

Then there is the do.Good Stitches Quilting Bee for charity. (click the link to learn more). We got our group about a week ago, and will start in August. The quilters each have a month that they pick a pattern and then everyone makes two blocks to send to them, then the quilter for that month pieces them all together, quilts it, and then we are sending them to Project Linus. Pretty cool! I am a quilter and am super excited! My first month is September and I already know what I want to do. I can't wait! :)

I guess that's all of those, but it's been fun getting started with them, and now time to get to work! ;)


I also have a few things to make for girl's camp in a few weeks! (Boy is that coming up fast!) Easy peasy - I need to cut strips of fabric to make slings for their water bottles. It really is such a great idea! They had them last year too. She simply put adam's rings around the necks of the plastic water bottles, and then made fabric strips long enough to put over your shoulder so they hang by your hip, and tied the ends to the adam's rings.  I also need to make up some tissue holders for the last night - because everyone always cries. ;)  I think I want to use this pattern I can't find what I was thinking about, but it has kind of S curved edges that help keep it closed . Trust me, it's cute. :) (just hope I can figure it out right.)


Quilts still waiting to be quilted:
Mabel's Quilt.

I think that's all that I can think of...

This weeks stats:
New Projects: 5
Completed Projects: 2
Currently in Progress: 10

db By Design: Shop Update

Erasable Activity Books

Have you seen these before???

        

They are fully equipped with erasable pages, two washable markers, an eraser, a pocket in the bag to hold markers and eraser, velcro closure to keep it all together, cute fabric so your always playing in style.

There two options of replacing the Hangman Page with a lined page. If you would prefer a lined page, just let me know! :)

These also work well with washable crayons (I've only tried the Crayola brand of both crayons and markers). These can also be fully hand washed (lay flat to dry). And the eraser can be popped in the washing machine.

I have a few, 9 to be exact, that I am about half way finished with. I decided to go ahead and add them to my shop if anyone would like to snatch them up! They won't take too long to finish up and mail out, but please allow up to 2 weeks at the most.

Here are the fabric choices that I have available right now:

                 

(the second picture from the top, with the red and white squares, flowers, owl, etc. will have a back pocket as in the last activity book picture with the crayons)

You can find them in my shop here.

Once these are gone, I'll make some more. Last time I took custom orders from the beginning and let people choose their own fabric, so I'll probably do that again. I'll let you know.

I also have a few mug rugs if you haven't seen them yet, as well as some more bags on the way! :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

These activity books are 100% my creation. Do not copy or reproduce any part of these in any way. Thanks!

Kaleidoscope QAL: Final Layout & Project to Project Design Wall

Usually I just use my floor to figure out how I want all my quilt pieces to go, but with all the pieces of the Kaleidoscope quilt, I knew the floor would not work. Then I saw over at Oh Franson that Elizabeth made her current design wall by simply pinning batting to the wall. SWEET! I can do that! So I grabbed a random piece and pinned it to the wall by my stairs and got this.

lol. It makes me laugh... it's pretty lame. ;)

But at least I could kind of get an idea of what I want to do...

I knew that to be able to arrange my whole quilt I would need a bigger piece of batting, but didn't want to cut out a random size and end up wasting a bunch of batting. Then it hit me! Duh! Just cut out the batting that I'll use for this quilt and pin that to the wall! 

Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy,has the final dimensions on her blog, so I cut out a piece a few inches bigger and pinned it to the wall above our bed! :) (that way I know  no little  hands will be playing with it.)

And voile! I think I have the final layout for my quilt. 

What do you think? It's a bit different than originally planned, and keeps my eyes a little more busy, but I think it's a little more interesting. Can you see the pattern that I used to arrange all the colors?

"Hubert" wanted to get in on the action too.

So here's my new Design Wall trick:

Whenever I have a new project or quilt, and I know what the final size will be, which I usually always do, cut the batting out for it and pin it to the wall. That way I don't have to keep something up permanently, which I don't really have a wall for right now. But I'll always have something that fits my current project.

PLUS, maybe the ever changing quilt blocks above our bed will be just that much more incentive for my hubby to let me have my own craft room when we get a bigger place. ;)

Pretty {little} Pouch Swap: Dear Partner

From my first post, I added a few items to my inspiration mosaic:

I also want to let you know that I hate filling out forms. :) I never know what they are asking. When I filled out the questionair, and asked what I like... I wasn't sure if I should put what I wanted for my pretty {little} pouch, or what I would like to try making. So please excuse my super weird answers. (Ok, I don't remember what I wrote, but just in case). :)

I'm not picky. I love color, just not anything super flashy or crazy. :) (and I'm not so much into sports, animals, or kids prints - except some Riley Blake stuff. )

Also, I am in need of a little coin purse and a little pouch that I can keep all my purse essentials in - so when I switch bags it's easy to switch all of my stuff over. But really, I LOVE bags and pouches, so you can make ANYTHING you want! :) (I just thought I'd add that in case you want a little more direction.)

I can't wait to see what you make me!! This is so much fun! If you have any questions I'd say just ask... but then that would give you away. :)

Have a great week!

Made It: Almost finished!!!

 You can find the pattern for this quilt over at Quiltstory.

I am SO close to being done with this quilt!! I am so excited! It was so much fun to make, especially with the trees and the flowers (though they were the hardest to quilt - having to turn the whole quilt in circles as I sewed, and trying to fit it through my machine a million times. I'm glad it's small!)

Here are some close ups of the stitching I did around the trees and flowers. 

I quilted the rest of it with some random wonky straight lines, but kept the stitching on the patterned fabric only. It will be interesting to see how it washes up. I'm actually really nervous about that.

I kept the thread white on the back so it would for sure show up. I think it's really fun! (I purposefully didn't applique it until it was all sandwiched together. I think it adds a bit more interest on the back of the quilt. Plus since making my picnic blanket, I think one of my favorite new things is seeing the stitched design on the side where you can't see the picture.)

Since taking these pictures (10 min ago) I've trimmed it down and it is now ready to bind! I am thinking about going with a solid orange binding. What do you think???



oh, AND I can't forget to mention my ugly gloves. :)

I picked these up at smiths for a couple bucks a while ago. I originally bought them to help me with the FMQ because I've heard quite a few people say they really like to use gloves, but I have found that I really love them for everything that is remotely big and takes effort to feed through the machine. It made appliquéing this quilt, as well as quilting it, SO much easier! I love the rubber fingers. And my boys love to feel them too. :) High fives all around when I wear these things!