Photo Heavy

...and all of the same quilt. My Zig Zag Pips was finally [lightly] quilted & bound over the weekend. It went very quickly - waiting to take the photos took longer! You know, the sun only comes out when it wants to!









Quilt Stats
Fabric: Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey + Kona Med Grey & Ash
Size: 40 x 45"
Pattern was adapted from Jeni's Tutorial


Linking up to my usual Monday places & off to check out some more weekend finishes!

  

Little Retro Flowers

This is a quick one! Lots of projects still in the almost finished stage & while I don't count this as 'finished', I wanted to show it off anyway!

I decided on changing up the fabric placement a little. Arranged this way, my eye sees the inside pink swirly flower shape first, then I do little figure 8's around the blue & white petals. I have to look to see the original flower shapes & I like that.



I love this pattern. The cutting was not nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be (this template helped a lot!). Sewing the curves (without pins) was fun! The trouble came for me when I was trying to piece everything together. My sewing machine had a hard time handling these thick seams. It got me thinking...if my machine somehow committed suicide via the window, would I magically find the money for a nice new one? Let's just hope nothing bad happens to it for now...
With some advice from awesome flickr group peeps, my walking foot got me through. Not easily, but well enough.
This little baby will either have more solids added as borders to beef it up, or I will bind it & call it a mini, not sure yet.

I have plans to make a much larger version with the traditional layout (fabric to be determined). I will not tackle it with my current machine though. Guess I better save my pennies nickels! (Did you hear, Canada is nixing the penny!)

Linking up to crazy mom quilts for finish it up Friday & to amylouwho for Sew & Tell.

A little of this & that + Liebster

Hello Friday, how did you get here so fast?
I am in a bit of a slump. Been getting little things done such as getting binding ready, ironing my latest fabric purchases & emptying the sewing room garbage. Yeah, I am *really* reaching with that last one.

Here's the last real thing I accomplished, 'Scallops' from curves class.




I also made up a pair of potholders, gifted to one of my sisters for her birthday.



Jenny from Jenny Makes Stuff awarded me the Liebster Award!
The Award goes to a deserving blog that has less than 200 followers.



There are actually quite a few small blogs that I follow & a lot of them have already been given this award recently. I hope I am picking blogs that haven't been recognised yet.

Kelsey Creates - I love the pillow she just posted for Pillow Talk Swap 7. Sweet kitties that look like mine always win me over too ;)

Breakfast for Dinner - I found Elena's blog back in October & was swooning over all the Nicey Jane I found there. She recently put together a rainbow swap (it's full now)

Married to a BMW - Jennifer's cute little cross-stitch desserts are adorable! I love the little shamrock for this month! She is also doing the Craftsy BOM ...her blocks remind me that I should get going on mine!

Two Hippos - I found this blog through the Flickr group for curves class. LOVE her ribbon star blocks from a few weeks back.

I am supposed to pick five blogs. The list in front of me has eight other blogs that I could have added as a fifth, if I had been quicker! One was just crossed off this morning...so I only have four.
The Liebster Award has been helping me find a lot of new blogs that I enjoy - I hope you check out the ones I mentioned here  :)

Leap Day wip

Happy Leap Day! One extra day...I know I always wish for extra time, but today doesn't feel like extra. It just feels like a normal Wednesday. It's one extra day before my birthday arrives...keeping me 31 for just a teeny bit longer. That is nice... yay for Leap Day! (I sure turned that around quick, didn't I? hehe)

I still have way more projects on the go than normal. All the fabric I need for finishing has arrived, so that excuse is now gone!
Sparkle - waiting on 5 more blocks, sashing, etc
Aviary 2 - haven't started on the back yet
Baby Swoon - haven't started the back yet
Pips Zig Zag - sandwiched, waiting to be quilted



That is my ironing board. Not that I can iron without moving everything off of it first! Where does the pile go? To the cutting table of course. Then back to the ironing board, etc, etc. It's a vicious cycle!
 Where do you keep your quilt tops/sandwiches?  I hate to fold mine up, so they get draped here once I need the design wall space for something new. Maybe this is why I prefer to go start to finish on one project!

I am quickly falling behind in curves class. Here is my Scallop quilt so far.



I'm fussy cutting the flower bits. Usually when I try too hard, I suck. So far, this looks like it might work out okay though. Speaking of trying too hard...my seams are not perfect. They are okay. Funny thing is, the best ones are the ones I did when I realised I had 7 mins before Parenthood started last night. Zipped right through them & they are awesome. Sheesh. Also, if you have not been watching Parenthood, you have been missing out. Truth.




I'm off to see some other freshly pieced creations over at Lee's!

Curves Class WIP

Well, here we are, {work in progress} Wednesday again! I have a couple of projects that are waiting in the wings with absolutely no progress lately. My Sparkle quilt is one of those as I am waiting on a fabric delivery to continue with it. Baby Swoon is in the same boat.

What I have been decent at is keeping up with my Curves Class projects. Here is my first improv piece. I made it into a potholder, again, for my sister who likes to cook.

I like it much better than last week's potholder!

My 'Rainbow Road' runner top is finished. I am making it to fit a specific table that my kitties like to sleep on. Here's a peek at the top.




















It was a good use of my scraps but I don't find improv curves all that enjoyable. Okay, that's probably not true. I think the scrap usage is the part I'm not liking so much. Although long curves with seams every inch or two, half being pressed the opposite way than I needed them was not fun. The throat plate on my machine is raised in the front, it catches every single seam allowance, pressed towards it or open. Pain.in.my...
I am skipping the Christmas Tree Mini project for now but would like to revisit it later on if I can find a good way to save the tutorial before the blog closes shop. If anyone taking the basics class has a plan for saving all the info, could you please let me know? I would really appreciate it!

Precise curves - I love em! My first two tries I found I was pulling the bottom piece too much, stretching it out of shape. This is when I cursed using that circle fabric. I made up some spray starch & tried again, more aware. Worked much better. I have yet to try the pinning method - honestly, I'm not sure I ever will.

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Happily in my playroom, brightening up our cozy corner

In unrelated news, my Pips Zig Zag quilt is all basted & ready to go! I am trying to hold off on quilting so I can keep up with class, but I'm not sure I can just have it sitting on my ironing board waiting for much longer!


 

Monday, again.

It seems that lately, Monday is a good day to blog. I usually sew like crazy on the weekends & not so much during the week, so I guess that makes sense. This weekend didn't see me in my sewing room as much as usual, but I do have a few small things to show.

My curves class goodies!

A couple of bibs. Used the pattern for one & traced a bib I own for the other

Also finished my scallop bunting. I made my scallops a little smaller than the pattern & added more. It was my first time making biased binding & that was really not very enjoyable! I would do it again...but only if/when I have to! I will have to take another photo when the bunting finds it's permanent home in the playroom.



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It was my little sister's birthday yesterday. We are the same age for about a month! I made her a pot holder. She is into cooking (I am into eating her leftovers!) and often has the family over for dinner. I'm sure it will be used plenty :)


Oh- my Moo business cards came in today! I usually get the minis but wanted to try the bigger (regular) sized cards. I just went with a pre designed graph paper image for the front. I can draw on them with my sharpie, which is sort of awesome! (That block is a bit sloppy...but I love the idea!) The back turned out okay. The colouring is off...but I can live with it. At least I got all my info correct!  Edit: Almost got it perfect. Missing a 'to' in my blurb at the bottom there. I knew I should have proof-read it 101 times! I'm sure I would have caught it that last time...


Linking up to Manic Monday & Sew Modern Monday again! You know, cause it's Monday. Again.

   

Completely Unplanned

Why? Why do I abandon my 'to do' list and start on something totally unplanned & random & with no place to go*? My WIP's include more Keyka Lou wallets, Aviary 2 baby quilt, Sparkles top, solstice stars/Craftsy BOM blocks, some prep for Curves Class...this is what I did instead of finishing any of that.




I saw Jeni's tutorial at the Moda Bake Shop on Tuesday. I guess it stuck with me because on Saturday I was tidying up fabric, came across a Pips charm pack & went straight to work! I only had 1 charm pack, so I didn't follow the tutorial - it's the same idea though. My top is 44 x 49".
I've ordered some more grey puppies, scarves & blue play dot fabrics for the backing/binding.

Without all the grey added in, I don't think I would like this top as much as I do. I tried to be a little random in piecing my charms (as much as I could handle!) and after it was all sewn up I saw some squares I would like to move around. Not really used to that! I *did* have to unpick one charm after it was already sewn into a big HST. The puppies were upside down, and that was not cool with me!

There is a local craft show coming up in May and I'll have a table there. A table for sure, not too sure what else will be there, other than this quilt.
*So. I guess it does have a place to go after all.  :)

See all that grass? This weather is so unusual. Nice, but it feels wrong. It's February & I live in Canada, so taking outdoor quilt photos without a coat & wearing running shoes is not something I've come to expect! It was really windy, that's why I stuck my top to some warm & natural, to try & help stabilize it a bit. It was whipped around really good out there!

It's almost swing weather!

Linking up my 'finish' to {sew}Modern Monday (I don't think of a quilt top as a finish, but I think it counts for this purpose!)  and Manic Monday!