I'm Back!

Yes, I'm back finally. Ten (12 hour) shifts in fourteen days -- remind me not to do that again!  School started back Monday and for now I'm back to me regular sporadic work schedule and plenty of sewing time.  I started out by spending all day yesterday camped in front of the TV, catching up on the DVR and putting together CiL tops.  I got the second Sun&Sea top together and three Patriotic Stars tops.  There were leftovers of both that, along with the lattice leftovers, will hopefully soon be combined into a few more tops.

Of course I had the dream team to help me arrange and sew blocks.  Rey is approaching 4 months old and continues to be the prettiest, sweetest, most purr-filled kitten around. She has not yet met a human-food she didn't like. When she gets big enough to jump on the counters we are going to be in trouble...

Rory has warmed up to Rey considerably but I wouldn't call them friends yet.  I think having then kitten around has been good for her, though, and helped to loosen her up.  They enjoy many spirited games of chase, and just when Rory thinks its safe to fall asleep Rey will come leaping off of some piece of furniture right into the middle of her.

A momentary cease-fire and mutual nap time, and a chance for me to use the "design floor" without them rearranging things.

In the mid afternoon the cats went up for a bit so the ferrets could get out.  The cats are a mild hindrance to arranging blocks and sewing... with the ferrets I might as well give it up until they're put back in their cage. (Believe it or not, the reason we have to separate the cats and ferrets is because the ferrets would attack the cats, not the other way around.  A full size cat is really bigger than they could handle, not that they realize that, but Rey is right in prime ferret-prey size range.  So until she gets full grown, never the two shall meet.)

I know the end of the month is when I normally announce the next CiL block drive, but we're actually going to be taking September off. I need a month to dig myself out from under all the blocks you guys have been faithfully sending in!  My summer travels put me a bit behind.  I will tell you that October's block is going to be a reprisal of last October's popular scrappy strings block, if you want to get a jump on them.

Design Wall Options

Halfway through January already! It doesn't seem possible. I've been making good progress on the Covered in Love quilts.  The string pinwheels are on the wall now auditioning design options.

Top left is a regular setting, below that I offset the rows, and on the right is on point.  I think I like the on point setting best, although it will mean cutting lots of setting triangles.  What do you think?

I'm also working on finishing the quilting on the latest crumb quilt.  Rory's been "helping". 

And of course now I'm sick and I just want to spend all my time napping.  Here's hoping this croup doesn't last too long.

Linking to WIP Wednesday.

Quilting in Circles

I'm still working on my crumb project.  We're into the quilting stage now :)

I'm doing spirals centered on each crumb block and letting them overlap where they intersect.

For the backing I had just enough left of this neat IKEA print.  Gotta get some more of that.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

The Crumb-splosion is a Top!

Whew! After months of work, on and off, the latest crumb project is finally a top!

It measures just shy of 50"x70" and I can't wait to get started quilting. I'm planning on doing intersecting spirals.

Rory watched the final stages of this come together from her nest in the string pile. She's going to be really disappointed when I finally clean these up.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Sewing while fending off a cat

Happy WIP Wednesday! I have been working on several projects for Covered in Love, assisted by Rory of course.  First off I got a few quilts quilted and bound, but you'll have to wait until a Friday for the big reveal.

Linda recently participated in Cynthia's Orphan Adoption Event where I won her WIP!  (I also won the a project from Julie, so look for that later. Thanks ladies!)  I don't know what pattern Linda was originally trying to make, but I'll be able to pull at least 2 tops from these blocks (first one above).

Today I pressed and trimmed some blocks for the second top.

Rory is especially helpful with trimming; she liked to chase the rotary cutter. Eeee! I keep telling her she is going to lose some whiskers if she isn't careful.

Also, the string blocks for the October block drive are coming in. Thanks to everyone who has committed to make blocks for this month! If you want to join in check out the main post.  If you want to participate comment (make sure I can see your email address) or email for an address to send the blocks.

Over the weekend we had another patient on my floor who'd had a long, long life whose family made the brave decision that it was time to let her go.  They were touched when I brought in the quilt for her bed. Just a reminder that this is where your Covered in Love quilts go; this is why we do it. Thanks for your support.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Supersized Block Top

I saw a cool new block this week on Tish's Adventures in Wonderland! It's a really pretty, detailed block she's calling Watermelon Taffy. You can see all the cutting instructions and the tutorial here.  Although this block would make a stunning quilt as is, it would take me a few years to finish a quilt where each 12" block has 152 pieces! (Did I add that up right? Double checked it, WOW!)

Since I love the block I decided to scale it up to make a whole quilt from just the one block. Tish's original block used a 1" base to make a 12" block, my scaled up top uses a 6" base to make a 72" quilt.

"Mom, can I help?"

I'm not totally in love with the colors I used; I was limited by which fabrics I had large enough cuts of in my stash. Hoping it grows on me in the quilting phase.  This will be another one for Covered in Love.

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday.

WIP Wednesday: Lots Going On

This sock monkey quilt has been in progress for at least a couple years for a friend of mine. Seems like I pull it out about every 6 months or so, look at it, and end up not finishing it. I do really like the sort of randomness. Maybe this will be the time it finishes...

The flying geese blocks are coming in, thank you to Valerie and Tish for their blocks :) If anyone else wants to contribute it's not too late!

Thanks to my friend Libby who sent in this top for Covered in Love. Just need to add some borders and it will be ready to go.

Finally, one of my quilts is going to its new home. The scrappy batik pinwheels quilt I made a while back is going to welcome a new baby! Packaged up with a bib and a lovey.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

"Ugly" Challenge fabric quilt

There's another Covered in Love quilt in progress. This one is made from a bunch of donated blocks the Tyler Modern ladies made for a fabric challenge.  Despite making some lovely blocks they all disliked the purple/orange/green combo and were eager to get rid of their blocks. Mores the benefit for me!

I also just pulled some fabrics... If I could some how turn these into a finished quilt by Friday night that would be awesome.  It's possible, but not likely. We'll see.

Linking to WIP Wednesday.

Edit: Wednesday morning update. 100 blocks are made and pressed. Auditioning layout options.

Sewing on Donations

Happy Monday! I enjoying my next to last week of freedom before going back to work with sewing.  The wonderful ladies of the Tyler Modern Quilting Group have donated several WIPs and sets of blocks toward Covered in Love.

This top was finished and almost big enough, I just added some borders to bring it up a bit in size.  I was running low on the polka dot fabric so I had to improvise.  

I think I'll bind this one in black to pick up on this neat black fabric in some of the blocks. I have no idea what the pattern in called since I didn't piece it, but I'm calling it Chain Links.

I was also given a set of a dozen sampler blocks from a block of the month project.  I set these using a textured black with highlights of blue and grey in it. Don't the bright fabric glow against the black?

Remember, I am always accepting donations of quilts, tops, and blocks toward Covered in Love!  These comfort quilts are given to the family to take home when a patient passes away in my local hospital.

Starting this month I'm posting a request for specific blocks each month so if you want to help out you can make a block or two.  Find the post for this month here; we're making flying geese blocks.

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday.

A cute picture of Rory, just because :)

Flannel Scraps #1

If you've been following along then you'll remember those flannel scraps I've been cutting down ;)

The first flannel scraps quilt is up on the wall.  This one had more of the dark, "manly" colors.  I cut 2.5", 4.5" and 8" squares and arranged them more or less randomly.  Finished size will be 56"x72" (my goal size for Covered in Love quilts).
 
I'm not in love with this one; hoping I'll like it more once it's quilted up.  Right now I'm wondering what to back it with. Seems like a flannel quilt top needs a flannel backing, but that will make it significantly heavier. Plus, I would have to piece it.  We'll see.

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday and Cynthia's Oh Scrap.

School Spirit

The sewing machine has been humming right along here, making a pair of A&M quilts for a friend who wants to give them as Christmas presents.

I first made 2 panels with the A&M logo. One is applique, the other is reverse applique. Both have batting sewn in under the letters to make them pop.

The first quilt is laid out (minus the bottom 2 rows which didn't fit) and partially assembled.  I put these quilts on hold for the moment to work on an older WIP.

The memory quilt made of Hawaiian shirts from my friend Nate's dad is under the needle finally getting quilted.

Large swirls.  It is difficult to be really careful not to get any puckers or distortion of the shirts because there won't be much krinkle happening to disguise any mistakes.  I am hoping to get it done and bound today.  Hope you are having lots of sewing time, too!

Linking to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Chain Piecing All Day Long

You may remember months ago when I had sewn a panel of 2.5" blue and low volume squares together. That project sat for a while but now it's back on the wall, and it has company!

Squares go under the machine...

...and out the back.

Up on the wall with the blue squares.  This is the width of the quilt but I have one more color panel to add to the length.

Linking to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday: Route 66

WIP Wednesday and I have new quilt on the design wall. This is another one for Covered in Love.  I had gotten a couple of remnants of this novelty Route 66 fabric and just pulled some matching stash to go with it.

I wanted to show you a little bit of my design process for a quilt like this. First I cut as many 10.5" squares as I could from the focus fabric, which turned out to be 12. Then I used grid paper to create a design using those and 5.5" squares to make a quilt finishing at 55"x70".  Since I knew my smallest unit was going to be the 5" square I decided to go ahead and set that as 1 square on the grid paper.  (The design wound up using only 11 of the novelty squares, so one will go on the back.)

Linking to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Paper Piecing Pineapples

Happy Monday :) It is a happy Monday for me. After working a loooong 3 days weekend I am back at the sewing machine. First things first I need to get this month's do. Good Stitches blocks done before I leave for my trip next week.

This month Louise has us paper piecing her inside out pineapple pattern.  Above is one finished quarter. I need to make 8 quarters in order to have 2 blocks.  Now, while I don't hate paper piecing, it is definitely not my favorite. And so time consuming!

After completing the first block to get my head around it I am assembly-lining the other 7.  Currently I am attaching pieces 7 & 8 (of 20) to each of the blocks.

If you come around here this afternoon your might hear some inappropriate words directed at Louise, but I promise it to only in the heat of the moment. This meticulously pieced will be gorgeous, and so worth it in the end.  Right? Ask me again in a couple of hours.

;)

edited to add:

5 hours of so later, here they are in all their glory!

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday.