New year, new project

After ogling the scrappy paintbox quilt featured on Oh, Fransson! for years, I've finally started to make one of my own. Actually I am making two (eek!) of them -- one for myself and one as a graduation gift for my niece.

I started them while at quilt camp last weekend, and so far they have been slow going. I'm trying to use as many scraps as humanly possible, so that is slowing me down a fair bit. With the help of my mom, we sorted through all my strip scraps and pulled out ones that go along with the solid colors that I have. None of them are cut to the right size though, so I am having to do that as I go along.

Here's the pile of 2.5-inch squares I am picking some of my centers from. Ahh, love the rainbows!



And my finished blocks so far. All I've done so far are pinks -- I need to get going! Still, I think it will be great when it's all finished.

Preview from quilt camp

I just returned from quilt camp today (and had a fabulous time) and don't feel like doing a complete rundown of all the projects I worked on, but here's a little preview of the main project I focused on over the weekend. I'm so thankful I was able to go!

Mastering the zipper

I've always found the idea of putting in zippers daunting. I was worried about the idea of sewing over the teeth and wasn't really sure how the zipper foot was going to function. I didn't want to break my lovely machine!

After putting it off for so long, I finally bit the bullet and gave it a shot while I was at quilt camp. In January. (I put off writing this post about as long as I put off trying to sew something with a zipper!) Having a built-in group of other people learning how to do zippers and others already knowing how definitely helped me give it a go.

Anyway. At camp in January, there were quite a few projects with zippers, including some really cute box bags. I've seen some really cute ones online and have even seen knitters willing to trade really nice yarn for homemade project bags. And of course the idea of making a few bucks or trading for supplies always sounds like a good idea to me!

And you know what? It wasn't really that awful! I was really careful to read each step of the directions and not jump too far ahead. The biggest issue I had was trying to get my sewing machine to sew evenly over some of the really thick seams. I'm not really sure how to remedy that. I've tried sewing slower and faster and starting the seam right at the thick parts. I still had trouble though. For the next one I make, I may try my old workhorse of a machine, just to see if that does better.

Here's my first one. I love this fabric to death, but for projects like this, it's probably better to use a non-directional print.


(I probably should have taken the picture from the other side, where the letters are right side up. Whoops.)

And a look at the inside. It's fully lined with a pretty orange fabric. This size is great for smallish projects. It has plenty of room for this pair of socks I am working on. (It's even my own dye job!)



I want to make a ton of these. They are so handy and turned out super cute!

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