March in review

At the beginning of the month I said:  "if I write it down and post it, then I'm more likely to do it, right?"  I am a list maker both in my work world and my "play world".  It helps me focus on what I want to do and when I can check something off the list it feels great.  But I don't always feel bad if I can't mark enough things off of the list, so I guess that is good. And this month I really did get a lot of things accomplished even though they were not all on my list.

Original goals included:

• Bind the RSC14 Pigtail UFO quilt with scrappy binding - DONE
• Bind my Summertime Row Robin quilt - working on it
• Make all 3 March Saturday Sampler blocks (12", 6", & applique) - 2 out of 3 done  
• Make all of the RSC15 blocks for the month (2 ) - DONE
• Complete the Round Robin section for the month for guild - DONE
• Hand quilt on the Tropical Wedding wall hanging (April target) - working on it
• Finish my 13 friendship exchange blocks - top half of all 13 done
• Make 2 blocks for Traveling Stars - NOPE, not touched

But I also did some things NOT on my goal list:

• Bound a 2nd UFO quilt (Fat Quarter Stars #2) that has been waiting for 3 years for binding
• Bound a 3rd UFO - the winter sleighs 60 degree table runner
• Experimented with an origami fabric flower and turned it into a finished mini quilt/mug rug
• Finished the pattern test project
• Made a self-binding baby blanket and gifted it to a coworker
• Made more blocks for new grandson baby quilt

Design Wall Monday - Monkey basketweave

Some Sunday sewing time allowed me to finish the quilt top for the new grandson expected in a couple of months.  It is a basketweave design using a snowball block full of monkeys, alternated with the "woven" blocks.

I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday at http://www.patchworktimes.com .

My daughter didn't want a baby-ish quilt and asked for lime green. Otherwise it was up to me to choose colors and design, so I hope she likes the end result.

The woven blocks require a partial seam during a construction but turned out to be very quick and easy to do anyway.  The first side is sewn about halfway, leaving a bit open so that the long "tail" will line up with side #4. Then block is constructed then much like a log cabin with each side added around.

Week 13 Status of the Stash

I didn't buy any fabric this week but my stash did increase just a little. That is because I have wonderful friends who helped me celebrate by birthday this week . . . and one of them gave me this gorgeous fat quarter bundle.  It is the Downton Abbey Lady Sybil line. Isn't it pretty? Blues, purples, and creams. I need to find just the perfect project for these 9 fat quarters.

I also won a fat quarter pack of Island Batiks from a blogger's giveaway, but since those haven't arrived yet I'm not adding them into this week's totals.  

There were 3 small finishes this week too: a wall hanging, a table runner, and a self-binding baby blanket. I'm hoping that next week I'll be able to add at least one more quilt to the finish side if I can get the binding done. Not much sewing time this weekend since all day Saturday was spent at a workshop for my job. But I'm hoping to take Tuesday afternoon off to attend the PHD (projects half done) sewing session at The Pin Cushion and spend the afternoon working on some UFO.

In this week: 2.25 yds
In this year: 70.75 yds
Used this week: 5.5 yds
Used this year: 79.5 yds

Status of the Stash: 8.75 yards ahead of my stash!  Yay!  

Another self-binding baby blanket

My third small finish for the week - another self-binding baby blanket. This one is for a coworker with a baby boy due in a couple of weeks.

If you haven't tried making one of these yet, do consider it. These make such wonderful and quick baby gifts. Whoever came up with this technique is a genius!! There are a ton of tutorials online and you can just search for "self-binding baby blanket".  They take 2 pieces of flannel and about an hour including cutting time.

My back piece is 10" larger than my front piece because it folds around to the front and makes the binding.  I buy 1.25 yards of the back and then cut the square as large as I can. Then I measure that and cut the other piece 10" smaller.

The only thing a little tricky is making sure your corners are stitched at the correct angle. I actually printed off my favorite tutorial and it is in the drawer that holds my flannel stash so I can refer to it each time just to be sure.  I've made a LOT of these over the past few years and it is my "go to" baby gift, along with a hand made burp cloth.  I always have a little stash of coordinating flannels in my stash in girl colors, boy color, and gender neutral colors so that I can whip one of these up anytime I need a quick gift.

A small UFO finish

It's finally DONE!

This 60 degree table runner has been half quilted for about 2 years. I started trying to free motion quilt it myself using a quilting design drawn on Press n Seal and "stuck" onto the top of the runner.  The process works fine, but I was still making a mess of the actual quilting. So I stopped halfway through.

This winter I picked it up one day and started picking out all of those quilting stitches. I threw away the piece of batting and put the muslin backing in the bin to use as a foundation for string blocks.  Last weekend I noticed this black backing section that was left over from a recent quilt and the leftover batting was folded with it. And guess what? It was the perfect size to use with this runner.

I added some very simple quilting to this by just following the lines on the fabric. I found the striped binding in my binding drawer that had been cut and was all ready to go when I originally made the runner. What a relief to finally check off this one from my UFO list.

Saturday Sampler months 1 & 2

Here are the blocks for the first 2 months of Saturday Sampler, except for the applique blocks. I have only 1 of those done yet. But you can really see how small the half size blocks are when they are side by side with the 12.5" version. This is the color scheme - red and aqua, which is something I haven't combined before.

So far, so good.

Interesting quilting designs

Doesn't this quilting design make you think of Egyptian hieroglyphics? And since the wall hanging is made with the Downton Abbey Egyptian line of fabric it just seemed to be perfect.  Wish I could show you the other side but this is the pattern test project and I can't share it just yet.  I really love this one and it is covering my big round coffee table right now instead of hanging on the wall.