Summer All The Time Complete!!

With no WIP Wednesday Linky this week (Good luck to Lee who is busy designing a fabric line!! Woot woot!), I have decided instead to post a FINISH!!! Probably my favorite finish to date! (Yes, I know I say that every time. But I mean it every time too!) Yesterday I finished my Summer Series Quilt a Long, which has been named (by the Princess):

Summer All The Time


I am so so happy with this one!

I hemmed and hawed over the quilting. I knew I wanted free motion, but with such a dark back, I didn't want to use light thread, but I also wasn't sure about dark thread on the front. What to do...


I ended up asking the advice of my local quilt shop ladies. They universally agreed to match the thread to the back and sashing. So, with a bit of worry, I trusted them and plunged ahead with grey thread. It worked wonderfully. Yes, you can see the quilting on the blocks, but this is SO much better than seeing the quilting on the sashing and back. It actually seems to enhance the blocks and at the same time, doesn't call too much attention to the sashing. YEA! Great lesson learned there!


Binding... well, my whole approach to this quilt has been to go bold or go home, so I went with bright orange. I really like it. It's the perfect pop of color to finish off the quilt.


Thanks to Lee, Kate, and Faith for hosting this great quilt a long! I learned SO much and have finished a quilt that I can cherish for years!! Yea!

WiP Wednesday - Basting edition!

So... I got a lot done this week! (I was going to say "I was a sewing machine this week" but... well, it is funny, but - you know...)

Anyway - I managed to finish the tops of: Halloween, Diamond Chain, and Twin Frolic.

!!!!!!!!!

Awesome!! So, today I had a massive basting party. See my sweet little helper?


I got Halloween, Diamond Chain, and Summer Series basted. I still need to baste Twin Frolic, and long lost Avignon Picnic.





I also managed to get Halloween quilted, and the binding stitched on, but have no pictures to show for it yet!

I will be out of town this weekend, but I am hoping to get all 5 tops quilted within the next week. I'm hoping, but not totally hopeful. We'll see! Wish me luck!!

Be sure to check out all of this weeks WiPs over at Freshly Pieced!

WIP it up!!

So, I finally feel like I'm starting to get back into the swing of things! Yea! I have had a very productive week!

Finished - Queen Frolic! Hip Hip Hooray!!


Top Finished - Summer Series! Bigger Hip Hip Hooray! Thanks for all of the love on this one! I am tickled with it and cannot wait to figure out the quilting!!


Blocks finished - SBS Sampler: Virginia Star and Breaking out!



I just have to say, I LOVE this magic way of making Flying Geese. It has saved the geese for me! :)

Still in progress:

Halloween! I have everything cut out and sitting in cute little piles. Now that I have finished the Queen and the SS top, I think this one can become my focus!!

New Stuff:

Frolic 2: This is a twin size sister quilt to Queen Frolic. The lady that I made it for has a bunk bet set and wants a quilt that compliments the queen, so I will be diving right back into the leftovers to come up with something cute! Now that the queen is done, I am much more excited to start this one!

Super Secret: I have an idea for a secret project for a special someone. It will be a quick project, so more info to come soon!

Well, that's all! Happy WIP Wednesday! Be sure to check out all of the awesome WIPs over at Freshly Pieced!!

Summer Series Top!!!

Yipee-yi-yea!!! I finished the Summer Series top today!! I am SO excited with how it came out!! I made a few extra blocks (another Arkansas Traveler, another Greek Cross, and 2 Virginia stars) to make the quilt a little bigger. And I added sashing and a few borders to create a 66 x 66 inch beauty!!!!

Here she is: Named by the Princess, "Summer All The Time"


**Love** Probably my favorite ever.I used Kona Charcoal for the sashing. I really wanted the colors to just pop out. I think it worked perfectly!! I can't wait to quilt this baby!!

WIP!

Wow. I am so far behind, it's just sad! I am still coming out of vacation mode... housework is not getting done. Sewing is being neglected. I'll get back into the groove but for this week, here's all I've got...

Summer Series: the 12th block, which I did the moment I picked up my machine:


I love how it came out. I decided to go bold and colorful! So, I have all 12 blocks done, but I decided that I want to make the quilt just a little bigger, so I'm going to make a few more, then get the top pieced together.

I did also get the Virginia Star done for the SBS Sampler, but I haven't take pictures yet. It's a motivational problem. My mind is still in Colorado. ;)
Anyway, I will pick things up this week, but for now - don't miss all the great WiPs at Freshly Pieced! (Oh, and don't forget to vote for Lee's fabric - see post below!!) Happy WiP Wednesday!!

WiP!

Wednesday's here again!! Yay!! Let's get going!

This week has been busy, but has felt pretty unproductive. I'm not sure why it feels that way...

Princess hasn't made any blocks this week, but has certainly had fun with the new GO! Baby. She has cut out many a shapes and is designing a pillow for herself with them. I'll post a picture of it as soon as she approves the layout! ;)

For me - I also have been playing with the GO! It's great! I used a little charm pack that I picked up a few weeks ago to make some diamonds! I am going to make this:

into a little pillow! I love the fabrics! It's a new Moda line called Hometown (I think) and it is darling!!

I also played with the half square triangle die. A.MA.ZING! Look:


A perfect 3.5" HST. No. Trimming. Required. At. All!!!! **angels start singing** I asked my hubby if he realized how much time it was going to save. His exact answer was, "Well, based on the amount of time you spend quilting, I'll just guess a few thousand hours or so." He's right.

Anyway, In Progress!

Summer Series: Minnesota and Evening Star


I love them both! I love how this quilt is coming out SO much!!!!! When I started I had a thought about who I might give it too. But I am loving it so much that I want to keep it. I have no need for it. I have no real place for it. Everything points to the fact that I shouldn't keep it. Am I going to keep it anyway? You betcha.

SBS: Bowties! This was fun, and I like how the block turned out!


Halloween Quilt:


Finally, I started the cutting on this! I have a few more of the applique pieces to cut out, but that shouldn't take too long! Glad to finally have this one started! Yea!

Queen Frolic: Still waiting to be quilted. It mocks me every time I walk into my sewing room. I think I will get quilting tomorrow! I hope. :)

Other stuff: I made some curtains for the kids rooms. I'll post pictures sometime soon!

So that's all! I will be taking my sewing machine in for a service Thursday, so that it can be all tuned up while we are on our last vacation of the summer! We are leaving Friday morning, so I'll be a week or so late on the last Summer series block :( But, we are going to have some major fun! So, I'll be absent all of next week! I'll miss you all!

Be sure to check out all of the awesome WiPs over at Freshly Pieced!! Cheers!

Summer Series: Lucky Pieces

I stressed about this one more than the others, as far as color placement went. The orange was an after though, but now I think this might just be my favorite! Tutorial for this block is here!

Paper Piecing!!

Success!!! Today, for the Summer Series Quilt-a-long, I spent about 2.5 hours figuring out paper piecing. This is my first EVER attempt. I have been scared to try. After this - I am in love! What a neat/fun/totally bizarre way to quilt! This, folks, is why we should never let fear stop us from trying things! So, with a feeling of pride, I present my first paper pieced block - Star!!


Yea!! I am so happy that I had some time this morning to get this done! It's pretty neat!!

WiP Wedensday

Wednesday arrives again! Here a look into the in-progress drawer! I've got a lot!!!

Princess has finished her 3rd block...


She is doing great! And, isn't she the cutest thing ever? :)

As for me, I am in Quilt-a-long Heaven!! :)

Skill Builders Sampler:

This week we did pinwheels!


I love pinwheels! And these are so cute! I finally found a decent pink/red to add to the color scheme to get the colors moving! I look forward to the next block! Here are my four completed!


Love em!

Summer Sampler Quilt a long:

Since last week, we've done Greek Cross, Mosaic Block, and Flower Garden Path. Here are my four completed ones:


Love. Love. Love. With my SBS blocks in a much more subdued color scheme, I wanted this to be bright and colorful. Done. And I couldn't be happier with the blocks so far! Although, the last one had about a zillion half square triangles. And that was following a zillion HSTs in the pinwheel block. Ugh. While I am happy to get better at them... please!!! NO MORE!! lol! Okay, I know there will be more, but yikes. ;)

Kaleidoscope:

The top is done! I added a border and really really love how this top has come out!!!


Queen Frolic:

Question: Am I the only one who gets to the point where the only thing left on the top is the borders, and then spend all my time avoiding the borders like the plague? So a job that should only take about 30 minutes ends up taking 5 days? Do you do that too? I hope so... anyway, I finally got the borders on (today). I went with plain white borders and I think I like it. It almost feels like you're looking out of a big window.


I have a sheet for backing and should finish it up this weekend! Yea!

Halloween quilt: oops. I'll start that this week...

Well, that's all! Be sure to check out all of the wonderful WiP's at Freshly Pieced!

WiP Wednesday!!

Howdy! What a lovely week it's been...

The princess didn't make any more progress this week. Something about swimming lessons, dance class, play dates... you know! :)

But me... Oh, it's been a fun week!

SBS Quilt a long:

It was challenge week: design your own block and get the measurements right. I did a block I've decided to call Ninja Star.

It reminds me of those throwing stars. Picture the star part in silver and the background in anything else... do you see it? I really like it! :)

Summer Series Sampler Quilt a long!

Block one: the Virginia Star!


I went with bright orange and yellow. This quilt is bound to be bright! I love it!

The Queen Size for the Princess's teacher: Here after called "Queen Frolic" (Original, I know...)


I am LOVING how this is coming together!! I am pleased with the applique too! So fun! I still need to add the border, but this top is just about done! Yipee!!

Check out all the great WiPs at Freshly Pieced!!