3rd quarter FAL

For the 3rd quarter of Rhonda's FAL, I went big.  REALLY REALLY big.
I didn't do too shabby.  I almost made it through the list, but I stalled out on a couple of projects.  (Plus I added a crapload of bees to the mix and prepping for Sewing Summit.)


1.  Postage Stamp quilt.  NOT DONE.
I made progress.  I honestly would have gotten this done today, but I hurt my  back last night.  Moved wrong and pulled something.  Owie.  I'm icing and Tiger balming it today, so no plans to pin baste today.



2.  Red, Black, and White/Grey quilt. DONE!


3.  The Stained Quilt.  DONE!


4.  The Tree Quilt.  DONE!


5.  The Pirate's apron.  DONE.


6.  My Soda Pop quilt.  DONE.


7.  The Hexy MF quilt. STALLED OUT.  I have two rows sewn together.  I'm slow at hand sewing and I'm finding maneuvering difficult once the row gets a certain size.


8.  The Across the Sea boy quilt.  DONE.


9.  Hexy Bag.  DONE.


10.  Snail bag.  DONE.  (I carry this to work with me every day.)


11.  Medallion quilt.  FINALLY DONE!


12.  Red Wonky stars. DONE.
 The Pirate and I are now referring to this as the Hand Turkey quilt.  Yes, it looks like one of those turkeys you make out of your hand when you're little.


13.  Green and Blue quilt.  DONE!


14.  Do.Good.Quilt.  DONE.


15.  Coaster Set.  DONE.



16. Dog bed #1.  DONE.  (The cat has actually claimed this now.)


17.  Dog bed #2.  DONE.  (Dog gets dibs on this one.)


18.  Quilt for B.  I made some progress on this, but I'm not sure I can give it to the person it was intended for...I was making it for a friend who was going through IVF.  It was her last chance and it didn't work.  She's now started the adoption process, but I don't feel like I can give this to her right now.  


19.  Converging Corners quilt.  No progress made.  I think I know who this is going to.  She's due this winter, so it will end up on the next list.



20.  Orange and Purple quilt.  DONE.


21.  Swoon.  DONE.


22.  Table Runner for R.  DONE.  I'm delivering this for Thanksgiving.


23.  Secret project for Sept.  Done!


So...to summarize.
19  out of 23 done!  Not too shabby.  And, um, the final quarter is gonna be BIG as well.  I hope.

Crafty book projects!

I am a book addict.
There, I said it.
That...along with a fabric addict, a project addict...oh, and chocolate.  Let's not forget chocolate.

I wanted to do a ton of Travel Handmade stuff for Sewing Summit, but I'm running out of time...and I'm not great at garment sewing.

In fact, the green skirt I made to embellish....well, I had plans.  Until I tried it on.
And, um..it's WAY too big.
It fit once.  Three months ago.  And then I lost a little over 15 lbs.
So, I'm not sad it doesn't fit, but I'm going to have to take it apart and resew it.
I'm also going to have to resize the pieces I've got for a Tula skirt and a spider skirt.

Anyway, I wanted something small.  Something I could tackle.  Something that isn't a pouch.  I went for a book I'd been looking at for a while.


A belt!  I don't own any.  (Er.  Didn't.) The reality is that I'm going to have to make my jeans work for a while on my clothing budget.  Since I've got another 10 lbs as a goal (at least 10), a belt seemed like a good plan.


I've actually got supplies for two, but I only got one done before I hurt my back...more on that in my next installment for Rhonda's FAL.


I'm linking up to Craft Buds this!

Hey, Y'all!

Okay, so I've pretty much been busting my butt since yesterday....which has been a continuation of working on projects since the weekend.

Here's what is now done:  (apologies for night time photo taking)

7 ipad sleeves for Remember September



10 in blocks cut for B/W sewing summit swap
10 in text fabric cut for Big Ten Inch Swap
AMH charms cut for swap
Rainbow charms for Sewing Summit swap cut

Orange and Purple quilt


 Modern Medallion quilt



Wonky Stars (aka the Condiment quilt)...it's currently in the wash, so pics tomorrow.

I've got 2 more finishes aimed for this weekend...the postage stamp quilt and the coaster set.
I still need to make the Ghastlies top for B, but I'm trying to decide how to finish it.
I think I'm tabling the Hexy MF and the converging corners quilt, but any way you slice it, hitting at least 20 in one FAL quarter is pretty damn good.

I'll be linking up some quilts for 100 quilts for kids as I'm doing a drop off for Project Linus this week.

edit: pic of condiment quilt added.

Sometimes, a girl's gotta hustle....

Kelsey over at Kelsey Sews is hosting a 100 day hustle.

The idea is that you list your projects that are hitting through the end of the year.
Make it or not, lists are my favorite (OCD, much?).

My list?  Insane, per usual.  (I'm sure, too, you'll see some of these on my FAL final quarter list as well.)  I'm hoping to knock off at least 4 off this list this week.

1.  Finish my half dozen ipad sleeves for Remember September.  (That's gonna happen by Wed, if not sooner, so I can mail them off.)
2.  Medallion Quilt (one out of 4 orange peel sides is done)
3.  Hexy MF (currently stalled out)
4.  pouch for Sewing Summit swap
5.  pouch for me for Sewing Summit (project bag)
6.  Travel tool case for Sewing Summit
7.  Finish green skirt embellishment and hemming
8.  Tula skirt
9.  Spider skirt
10.  Paper pieced cushion for the Travellin' Pic
11.  quilt for my aunt
12.  coaster set
13.  Converging Corners quilt
14.  Ghastlies quilt for B.
15.  Postage stamp quilt
16.  quilt Sew Intertwined
17.  Quilt Mod Pop
18.  How Far will you go quilt
19.  Mouthy Stitches swap
20. 4x5 blocks
21.  various and sundry bee blocks
22.  Heal Circle Improv quilt
23.  Wonky Stars (aka the Condiment Quilt)
24.  Malka quilt
25.  journal covers
26.  Knit Cowl
27.  Weekender bag?
28.  Scrap Vomit
29.  pincushions for swap
30.  coin purses

Yup.  I'm nutso.

A happy ending...(warning:contains profanity)

which totally sounds wrong.
Part of today sucked.
Yelling at a billing office and now hunting for a new doc.  Seriously, peoples, I've worked for a doc so I know how things are supposed to go.  This office has made too many BIG mistakes.

Anywho....
I've been a bit under the weather this week.  Crabby.  Tired.  Angry tummy.
I really didn't want to be at work yesterday (which is saying a lot because I love my job).
I came home to some packages.  Fabric I'd ordered and MY SAILOR MOUTH SWAP ITEM.

Cover your eyes now if you don't like cursing.

Holy shit, y'all.  It was fabulous.
It's from Jess over at The Elven Garden.

It says a really naughty word.  The F one.
See?

AND IT'S TULA.  AND THE QUILTING IS AMAZING.
Gah.  She also send some text fabrics I haven't seen before.

WOOOOOOO.
My night was so much better even if part of it was napping with an angry cat and drinking peppermint tea.

On top of that, today I found out I made the finals in Rachel's Stitched in Color palette challenge.

Voting is open all weekend.  Even if you don't pick mine, vote!  There are some gorgeous choices out there.

I'm also slowly but surely working on the Medallion quilt.  I'm FINALLY at the orange peel stage.  It's on my finish before the end of Sept. list.

 

it's just fugly....

I made this quilt, you see.
And in my head it was awesome.

I even sent out blocks to my peeps in a bee.

And...well...it's fugly.

Don't get me wrong; its inherent fugliness has nothing to do with the work my ladies did for me.
I just chose the solid badly.

It's so bad, that I'm thinking of punishing it with an ugly brown solid from my fabric dregs rather than the glorious Tula I had planned...because, damn, I can't believe I used Parisville and Loulouthi for this.

It's just bad.  I'm calling it the Ketchup/Catchup quilt...because it looks like a condiment tray.  And not in a good way.




In other news...I finished the Pirate's Apron.

I tried to get him to pose, but he insists on making  silly faces, which never ceases to make me giggle.

I'm also working on my Postage Stamp quilt.
I'm thinking of adding sashing around the blocks to make it quilt sized.

The whole thing is making me want to make a true scrap vomit.  (But these square are tinier than the rest of my scrap vomit stash.)

Still not messed with:
my orange quilt
the grey band of handquilting that needs to happen on my Medallion quilt

I blame a migraine and some blahs this week.

Happy Monday!

I had today off but went off on an early start to get Reny to the shop this morning.  I was trying to FMQ the orange and purple quilt on my FAL list yesterday and it kept skipping.

Unsurprisingly, it stopped doing what it was doing wrong when I brought it in.

Since the quilt is basted and all, I'm going to try to get some of it quilted tomorrow after work.

(I also pin basted the Sew Intertwined QAL quilt....that one may sit a bit though.)

Because I couldn't use the machine yesterday, I decided to work on two other projects on my list.
I tackled the red, black and grey quilt, since it's been sitting untouched since April.




It's done!  And in the wash with the rest of the box of color catchers.  *is praying it was enough*

I also have the Modern Medallion quilt done up to the large borders and the binding is on it.  That's on my to do list this week as well.

So, to recap, goals for this week:

1.  Medallion quilt
2.  Orange/Purple quilt
3.  The Pirate's Apron (I had fully intended to get it done today, but the 2 hour round trip to the shop ate that time.)
4.  Catch up on bee blocks.
5.  Catch up on How Far Will you Go? QAL blocks.

oh, yeah...all that and Zumba, designing a process drama for my classroom, and regular work.  Eep.

Ipad sleeve tutorial!

Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs is a bloggy friend of mine.

When she asked if I would be interested in helping her with a project near and dear to her heart, I couldn't say no!



Not only that, but she organized the drive with Hopeful Threads!

They are trying to collect 100 e-reader sleeves/covers and pillow cases for servicepeople abroad.

I asked if I could make an ipad cover.  I wanted to make it beginner friendly.  You can, of course, adjust the measurements for any e-reader.

I cut three pieces.  Two pieces for the lining, 9"x11" each.  One piece for the body of the cover, 21"x9".  You can piece it together however you want and then cut it to size if you wish.  (I'm thinking I have some orphan blocks that will be reformed into colorblock/improv strips for a few more.)  I'm going to try to make some in linen, but I have to restock my supplies.  The only other ingredients you need is a piece of fusible fleece (21"x9"), 2 hair elastics, and 2 buttons.

  (oops...I had already fused the fleece on in this photo)

 Recap of "ingredients":
(2) 9"x11" lining pieces
(1) 9"x21" exterior piece
(1) 9"x21" fusible fleece
(2) hair elastics
(2) buttons

Assembly is easy.
1.  Iron the fusible fleece to the exterior piece.

2.  Sew one piece of lining to one end of the exterior piece.  (All your pieces will now make a LONG piece that goes, interior, exterior, interior.

3.  On the other end, pin the two hair elastics each two inches in from the top edge.  Layer the other lining piece on top of it.  (Think of it as a hair elastic sandwich, with the lining and exterior as the bread pieces.)  Sew.

4.  Fold the long piece (with right sides facing).  Sew along the edge in a giant U (leaving a 3" gap at the end of the lining edge of the sandwich.

5.  Turn it right side out.  Sew the opening closed.

6.  Press.

7.  Topstitch the top edge.

8.  Sew on the buttons.

9.  Pack it and send it!

10.  If you so desire, repeat!

I hope y'all will make one.  Honestly, I made it easy.  At least as easy as I could.
You can add all kinds of fun embellishments.  Improv!  Hand stitch!  Really, it's an awesome cause. Rumor has it that they'll be drawing some prizes over at Hopeful Threads for the folks who help contribute to this!  There's also a flickr group to join and lots of other awesome bloggers doing tutorials.

Thank you, Melissa, for letting me help say thank you to our troops!

Sorry, I can't seem to keep up.

With posting on the regular, that is.

I'm still trying to get into the swing of things with school.
Add to that parking lot issues, dog, and then gearing up to camp with my students.
(I'm so not outdoorsy...and the fact that I miss the Sewing Summit registration and have a proxy doing it is making me UBER OCD/mad I have to go.)

Anywho, I tried to catch on things this weekend.
I still have a crapload of hand sewing to do.
I'm taking the Hexy MF with me to work on.
Part of my Medallion quilt is hand quilted, but I still have ton to go.  I get a long weekend next weekend, so that is part of my list of things to get farther along.

I have, sadly, come to the conclusion that I won't get through my whole FAL list.  I'm aiming for 2 or three more completion.  Maybe I'll be hit by some magic and get more done.
I have one more tic of my list, though...my super secret Sept project.
The tutorial is coming after midnight.

This weekend, I caught up on my How Far Will You Go QAL block:



I think I'm REALLY going to love this quilt when it's done.

I did my do.good.stitches block for Emily in the Heal circle:



I've got a few more blocks from last month coming my way and I'll have to assemble and quilt one, too!

I did my Running with Scissors Bee block for Danielle:



I did my Neutral and Not block for Nydia:



The shot cottons in this one were so lovely.  I can't wait to see that quilt.

I did stars for Lyanna, for Sew Bee Blissful:



I also worked on a Mystery Round Robin that I can't share with ya.  It's getting mailed off to its next owner tomorrow.

Finally, I made my pouch for the PLPS.
I love how it turned out.  Like a doofus, though...when I went to get my partner's mailing address, I realized she asked for a bigger pouch.  (So there is a compromise INSIDE this pouch.  I hope my partner will be ok with that.)



So, how was your weekend?