A finish!

I've been busy working on a top secret project lately: a quilt for one of my sisters for her birthday! This is the first quilt I've made for anyone in my family other than a wall hanging I made for my mom, so I was really excited to give it to her. My sister Michelle has got a great eye for color and design and has a gorgeously decorated house, so I also was a little nervous to make something for her. I'm happy to report that she loved it!

I was inspired by one of her guest rooms, which is painted a vibrant orange. She now uses it as a craft room when she doesn't have company, so I wanted to make something bright and modern. I bought all the fabrics the last time I went to quilt camp. They were already bundled together and I thought of her right away.



I quilted it very simply in orange thread with straight-lines about a quarter-inch from the seams of the zig zags.



And I had this awesome green chevron fabric in my stash. I bought a couple yards of it a few months ago from Connecting Threads on clearance. It was perfect for this project! The quilt washed really well and was really soft and wrinkly when I pulled it out of the dryer. Even though I'm normally somewhat selfish about keeping things I make, mailing it off to my sister made me really happy! Here are a few more photos of the quilt in progress, since I haven't been able to blog about it at all.



Am I the only one that loves looking at color-coordinated trimmings?

Finished!

I was super happy to get this Jungle Baby quilt finished for my friend Elizabeth, who is due to have a boy in a couple of weeks. I gave it to her this week at work and she said she loved it.

These pictures aren't great, but they were the best I could get at work.







I used this Moda Bake Shop pattern for this quilt with a few changes. The original pattern suggested cutting all the pieces from a layer cake, but I just used fabrics I already had in my stash (yay me!). Another change I made was the size of the inner square in each block. The pattern said to cut that piece 3.5 inches, but I cut mine 4 inches, which worked better for the jungle animal fabrics I decided to use. I had these fabrics for quite a while, and fussy cutting them for this quilt worked out so well! I am really happy with how this project turned out.

The quilt got nice and crinkly after I washed it -- perfect! The back is the same striped fabric I used for the binding.



In unrelated news, I am having a bad pain night. :( The pain (which tonight is like stabbing in my left heel - fun!) isn't the worst it's ever been, but it's bad enough that I have been up for like 2.5 hours and not able to fall back asleep. I've taken a couple of painkillers and some Advil and I'm still hurting. Ugh, so frustrating. I really miss the days when I could sleep easily through the night. And be awake and alert all day at work. Sigh.

Handmade Christmas, part 1

Once again I tried as much as I could to make homemade gifts for my friends and family this year for Christmas. I don't know if it was that I was lazy, disorganized, busy or waited too long to start, but I was working on stuff up until the early hours of Christmas morning. Ugh! I really, really have to do better next year.

Anyway, I made a couple cool projects this year.

This was my absolute favorite — a Harry Potter made from felt, stuffing, yarn, and embroidery thread for my niece. He turned out so great! Now I totally want to make some more characters.





I had a little trouble getting him sewn together, especially his head. I made up my own pattern and didn't really think about how I was going to attach his head to his body — making the little scarf helped cover up his weird chin seam. And it made him look jaunty.

I also made some knitted dishcloths. I was so rushed with a few of them that I didn't even take photos. Whoops. Here's two that I finished early.



One of my friends has a little girl who often makes little things for me. I try to make her handmade gifts, but I was stumped this year. Inspiration finally struck though, and I ended up with this — a little quilt and pillows for her stuffed animals. The quilt was re-purposed from a quilt-as-you-go project I have been working on for a long time.

Here's the quilt modeled by one of my bears.



And the set with the pillows.

Hello again

There are a few reasons why I don't blog regularly. One involves me being super unproductive, another is that I'm in a serious funk.

Luckily, neither of those is the case recently. :D I've just been busy. And happy. And productive. At least I am most of the time.

This week I finished one of the projects that has been hanging over my head like a cloud, the butterfly baby quilt.

I am so, so glad I kept at it though. All the time I put into it was worth it because it turned out SO good! I really hope my friend Kathy, who paid me to make it for her second daughter, is happy with it. It went in the mail earlier this week.









On to the next unfinished project!

Finished (a few weeks ago)

I've really been working along on a variety of projects lately, but sadly neglecting my blog. Anyway, here's a look at the entire order of dishcloths I finished a couple weeks ago.







I really had fun making these and have since made two more. And (what is common behavior for me) bought enough cotton yarn for several more. I'm always like "WHEE! So fun! Must knit hundreds of dishcloths, so will buy enough yarn for all of them now!" Then a day later I get distracted by another craft project.

Moving right along

I've been steadily working on the order of 10 dishcloths I mentioned in my previous post. So far I've made five, and did each of them in a different design. I really hope the woman who is paying me for them doesn't mind them being different, since I think I would certainly go a bit nuts if I had to do them all alike. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

She asked for dishcloths that would go with a tan kitchen, and also said she likes orange and yellow. I've been working with those colors the best that I could, considering I haven't had much luck finding all cotton yarn that is actually tan. I did find one that was beige and darker beige (my personal color nightmare house-wise), so I hoped that was close enough.

Here they are in all their dishwash-y glory.













And I couldn't help but notice, but between these dishcloths and the socks I started recently:



and this fabric stack I bought this week at Michael's:



there seems to be a color scheme developing for the month of July.

Lending a hand. Or a neck.

I finally finished my latest pair of hand-knit socks - seen here inside this bag and again here when I found them amongst my widely strewn craft projects. They turned out perfect and fit so well! I haven't yet taken a photo of the finished pair, but plan to soon.

Anyway, since I can't seem to go a couple days without starting something new, I am ready to tackle my first knitted shawl. I'm planning to do this one called Cladonia, designed by Kirsten Kapur. I think it is so, so beautiful, but not super dressy, which is perfect for me. I think the stripes make it a bit more casual, but with just enough lace to get your attention.

Before I can really begin though I have to wind my yarn hanks into center-pull balls so they are easier to use. I have a yarn winder, but no swift, so I have found a perfect stand-in.

Martha.



She's the perfect size to hold a hank of yarn, keeping it tangle free while I wind it up. And she is super cuddly and cute as well.

Caped crusader

Can you believe I already finished my forget-me-not cape? It took less than a week from start to finish, and that included learning how to crochet (at least some of the stitches) and having to rip out part of it to start over. I love the speed of crochet.

And here's the finished object:



I love it so, so, so much. Like I'm starting to plan outfits around it, rather than the other way around. Although I also do that some days with socks, too, so that's probably not that telling. :)

Here's a look at it on me, complete with a spotty bathroom mirror. I definitely need to unearth my Windex.



I'm already thinking of my next crochet project, but I seriously want to make another of these. I think one with a black foundation and then alternating black and white ruffles would be adorable. And one in my favorite color fuchsia would be pretty too. Or like a robin's egg/Tiffany blue.

Oh, and after my crying jag during Planet Earth, I had another crying episode last night. During TOY STORY 2. Good heavens, I sure hope it's hormones or something rather than me just becoming more and more sappy.

Welcome to the zoo!

Guess who got finished tonight? (OK, it was really around 2 a.m., but close enough!)



I haven't picked out a name yet. Truthfully, I'm not even sure if this little elephant is a boy or a girl. You would think I would know, after I spent all that time stitching its hindquarters.

I think my favorite names thus far are Horatio and Violet. Any other ideas?

Anyway, now the elephant and I are headed to bed. I'll try to post more about the pattern, the materials I picked out and why this was a lot more time-consuming than I thought it would be.

Another count

This is the second morning this week that I have woken up around 3 a.m. and not been able to get back to sleep. It's supremely annoying.

While I'm up though, I figured I might as well blog. :)

Inspired by my friend Natalie, I finally sat down and made a list of all my finished quilts. Sadly, that number - 26 - is only slightly bigger than my list of current WIPs! And that includes a quilted bag and pillow, because I thought my number was pretty abysmally small and I was trying to make it larger. And as selfish of a quilter as I am, I have given away or sold more than half, so I guess that's not too awful. Not great, but not so bad after all. That number also includes some baby quilts that I've made that I'm not super attached to, so I may try to list those on Etsy or give them as gifts in the future.

It's funny how many projects I almost forgot, especially those quilts that I gave away or don't see everyday. Ooh, I just remembered another one! (The quilt my mom and I made for my nephew Josh for graduation, so that makes 27.) I need to do a better job of keeping track of my projects. It'd be nice to have a record of how long I work on them and pictures of them all. I think I have pictures of most, but they're definitely not organized well.

Ugh. Not looking forward to getting out of bed and ready for work. Heaven knows the lack of sleep will kick in later! This is my last work day of the week though, since I'm taking tomorrow off as a vacation day. I'll be spending the day going to a dentist appointment, taking a trip to Joann Fabrics and quilting furiously trying to finish up some Christmas projects. Wish me luck!

You might think ...

... That my lack of posts indicate my lack of quilt- and craftiness lately. Definitely not true! I've been working on all kinds of projects (lots of knitting, especially.

You also might think that after spending the entire weekend at quilt camp that I'd be ready to take a quilting break. Not true either! There's just something about spending a weekend at camp that invigorates my creativity and urge to do more and more.

I am really happy with what I was able to do during my time. While it's not usually my style to be really organized and know exactly what I will do during quilt camp weekends, this time I made it easy on myself. UFOs ONLY! (My secret title was UFO No Mo' - just a tad different from their '60s theme). So challenging to only bring those items, especially when there are like 70 other quilters around with piles of fabric, new patterns and fresh projects. By packing strategically though, it really helped me focus. I only brought supplies needed for already started projects. No extra fabric whatsoever. That was tough! (Although a heck of lot easier to pack.)

My tally during the weekend:
- finished the machine quilting on this quilt. (This photo was taken at a previous weekend at quilt camp!) I was able to get the binding cut and sewn on. Working on hand stitching it to the back now. Yay!

- Was able to sew together version No. 2 of the quilt I made as part of the Old Red Barn Co. quilt-a-long in July. (I just went on a search to find a post about the first top and realized I've never posted about it. Great blogging there, Christy!)

Anyway, back when I decided to do the quilt-a-long, I wanted to use my jelly roll in the Charisma line.



I wanted the fabric to go a long way though, so I added some other fabrics that I found in my stash and a few that I got at Joann's. That, plus I like using a variety of sources and usually prefer to not use fabrics all from the same line. I'm also usually too cheap to buy "designer" fabrics! This gave me enough strips to make two lap-size tops with mostly the same fabrics, but with different color placement. I have two different fabrics for the backs of them and think I will piece the backs to use both kinds on each.

- And finished the top of the disappearing nine-patch that I am making with the four charm packs I bought a while back.



Go me! I hope to download some of the photos I took later this week.

In the meantime, however, I'm joining lots of other quilt bloggers and am going to pretend that I will do a Sunday Stash post every week. The stash isn't the problem at all, it's the me remembering/getting around to do the posts!

This is waiting for the "perfect" pattern. I adore these patterns and colors!

It's a Hoffman Bali Pops in Kiwiberry.



I also, ahem, added a teeny tiny little bit to my stash this weekend. More details on this later. :D

Another finish

If I was one of those people that purposely spelled words wrong just to make them all start with the same letter, I might have titled this Krazy Kansas Kwilt. I am so NOT one of those people though, so hence the lame (but correctly spelled title).

This was another quilt I made for a friend. She is really into the University of Kansas and dogs, so I combined the two in a wonky log cabin pattern. I really enjoyed making this quilt since it was so random, but it took a really, really long time to make the blocks. Maybe my strips were too thin? Either way, it was nice to not stress about having a perfect 1/4" seam on everything.

The wavy lines I machine quilted turned out really good, I thought. They made the quilt significantly wrinkly but also were pretty easy to do.

Here are a couple pictures. (sorry, the photos always suck!)

Rhymes with purple

In a continuation of an unusual stream of productivity, I finished another quilt! And almost odder, it was a gift. I'm usually a selfish quilter, not wanting to give up any project that I spent so much time on. Non-quilters may not realize it, but making quilts often includes blood, sweat and tears.

Anyway. It was a gift for my friend Kim and her soon-to-be husband Collin. They are getting married in about a month, but I decided to give her the quilt at her shower.

While I was working on the quilt, it kind of reminded me of purple Kool-Aid, which in turn made me think of Jim Jones. I secretly wanted to name it "Don't Drink the Purple Kool-Aid" but figured that wasn't really the impression I wanted to make. I obviously have quilt naming issues.

I started the project at the last quilt camp and got the top done and started the quilting. Then I realized that the back was puckering and that annoyed the crap out of me. So I got out my trusty seam ripper. Lots of fun tearing all that quilting out.

Natalie helped me re-pin it a couple weeks ago and then I got busy with the machine quilting. I did wavy lines going across and down. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I love the fabrics and color combination!

Armed with a new camera

Thanks to my sweet husband, I once again have a functioning digital camera! Yay, much excitement on the home (and craft!) front.

I've been busily crafting away and getting much done, including finishing some projects. It's such a great feeling to be able to step back and know that something is finally finished, especially after it's been hanging over my head for a while.

I was so happy to finish the My So-Called Scarf with the beautiful yarn I bought when I was visiting my sister in Illinois. I finished it about 3 or 4 weeks ago, but of course, I'm the laziest blogger ever!

I've loved this pattern for months, but seriously thought it was way beyond my skill level. After I figured out the stitch pattern, it didn't even take that long to make. The yarn was awesome to work with, I just wish I had more of it since I love long scarves. I really couldn't justify buying two skeins though!

While I do not like thinking of cold weather coming back, I'm kinda looking forward to wearing my scarf.

Finished - finally

I am so happy to have finished a project this weekend! It's my bright squares quilt, which is the first bed size quilt I have ever pieced and quilted by machine. It was definitely a struggle at times, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I did free motion quilting and it was really hard at first to keep going even though the quilting looked kinda messy and there were some puckers on the back. Oy.

But I just pulled it out of the dryer - so yummy smelling and warm! - and it looks better. The wrinkling effect make it look less like it has mistakes.

I'm especially happy to join the Spring to Finish 2 challenge on the Tallgrass Prairie Studio blog. I adore Jacquie's work and am excited to have some extra motivation to get some projects done for a change. Makes me feel less guilty to start new ones. (I accidentally typed in quilty there at first, which made me giggle.)

I don't have any new photos since the camera bit the dust, but here's the top after it was put together.



I cut the edges so it ended up being a plain square. Good thing since it shifted a bit while I was quilting it!

Here are some of the fabrics I used in the top:



I based the whole quilt on the fabric below on the left. It's got some gorgeous colors in it. The black pattern on the right is from a fat quarter from Joann's. I wish I could find yardage of it. I love it so much! I would have loved something like that for the back. I was good though, and used something from my stash ... an orange fabric with scattered white dots. It looks OK. I used leftover fabric from my bright strip quilt for the binding. (Notice a trend with the lame quilt names?) :)