working on....

....turning this gorgeous mound of wool....

 

....into a dreamy little sweater.  And loving every minute of it.

Have a fabulous weekend :)

Binding!

Will be parking my butt on the couch to do some binding this weekend and catching up on a backlog of t.v. shows on my PVR- pretty much the only time I watch t.v.! Will have some quilty goodness x3 to show you soon!

Have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday

Basted!

Top: Nicey Jane New Wave quilt
Middle: fundraiser tree quilt
Bottom: Postage stamp quilt

Quilting time! Pounding it out! It's gonna be ~cRAzy~!!!! Whoop whoop!!!

Ahem. Better back off on the caffeine, eh?

What are you up to this week? Get your nose in everyone else's business at Lee's WIP Wednesday link up ;)

Work in Progress Wednesday

Haven't had much to show you lately, but I am multitasking with a bunch of projects.

Priority- I am putting together a quilt to auction for my daughter's preschool in 2 weeks. Had each of the 65 kids sign on a fabric leaf in their sweet little preschool script, and am appliqueing them to a tree. Coming along!


It's Time Already- My Nicey Jane New Wave quilt top that I made in the summer (look, grass!) has finally got a back and is basted and waiting for some quilting love.


I'll Get There- As predicted, I finished my postage stamp quilt top in a frenzy, then nothing. But I have fabric for the back and will get moving on that soon.


On the Needles- I am feeling super duper-ly smart that I have figured out how to knit in the round on double pointed needles and a circular needle, with the help of You Tube. I am part way through a new hat. I don't think I will ever see the end of this monster sized ball of yarn.....

On Deck- once I clear the above off my plate, I am excited to get going on my daughter's Rainy Days and Mondays quilt, a FFA2 quilt using Kate's awesome new soon-to-be-released pattern for the other daughter, some quilt ideas for my box-o-Bliss, and I PROMISE....I am going to cut into some of my uber-stash of Anna Maria Horner. One pile, for starters. Baby steps ;)

Linking up with Lee and friends at Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.

Accelerated quilt along- top done!

Been sewing like a Psycho and finished the patchwork step of Rachel's quilt along Wednesday night.

Sliced up those strip sets into over 200 segments, then re-sewed them together into 42 blocks. The pattern calls for 48 blocks to make a 60 X 80"quilt, but I am going to shorten mine up to 60 X 70" and save some goodies for the back ;)
Oh yah and I ironed seams....a LOT of seams.

Last night I figured I may as well just finish it off so I could enter for the prizes. So, here she is (excuse the crappy lighting):

I love it. I absolutely adore this Hello Betty line- how did I not know about it before? Thanks, Katie, for tipping me off :-) The colors are so fresh, and I love them paired with the linen. The linen was a bit of a pain to work with, kinda stretchy, and MANY of my corners don't match up, but it is good enough to make this girl happy. This quilt will look amazing in my family room....may need to use some of my extra bits to make some coordinating pillows for my couch.

Phew! I am going to go enjoy a sewing-free weekend now ;) Happy Friday!

On the needles....

Had my first knitting lesson with Michele last week. I think this may be the beginning of a new addiction.....

Learning about all sorts of new things like gauge, skeins, and all sorts of crazy-ass abbreviations ;) It's a whole new world! Gets me giddy.

Starting with a simple hat pattern for The Middle Child, using a cheap acrylic yarn picked up at Zellers last year. I'll never get through that huge ball!
Also went to a local wool shop and drooled much/bought little. Settled on this gorgeous wool/acrylic blend for my youngest, who of course wants a hat, too!
Isn't it pretty? I love chunky yarns, and who wouldn't wanna hang out with "a riot of colors"??

Love hate. Hate hate love....

Do you ever ride this kind of emotional roller coaster when making a quilt?

I have had moments during this quilt and the last when I swore NEVER AGAIN. Ended up loving the last one...last night I was ready to throw my Pips quilt in the garbage...this morning we are on speaking terms again. Hoping love will bloom in the end. Will keep you posted.

Brrrrr....

We are in the midst of a cold snap up here in Winnipeg, with temperatures in the minus 30 degrees Celsius range (that's a frosty -22 on the Fahrenheit scale).

But don't worry about me, it's a great day to make snowballs ;)

The result of your awesome suggestions

Thanks so much to all of you who hurried to my quilting rescue yesterday with great advice. You know how it is when you just look at something too long and can't see it anymore? Last night I took a "night off", spent time with some girlfriends (and Mark Wahlberg's abs) at a movie, and just had fun. I read all your comments in the morning, refreshed, then got busy while my son was at school. And the funny thing is...I think I incorporated pretty much ALL of your advice in my final product!

Navy border- check!
But what about aqua? Check!
Add a bit of brown- check (a few pieces of patchwork)
Add a few squares of the hockey motif prints- check!

Here she is (drum rollllllll):

I am feeling good about the result. I decided to go mostly navy but throw in some aqua to brighten it up. I didn't have enough length, and didn't want to buy more, so I added a few patchwork squares along the right and left- seven , to be exact, to represent Big G's 7th birthday! One of each set of squares are a fussy cut of the hockey print- a red helmet and a set of sticks.
(color in this picture is really off, sorry!)

The outer border has some random pieced aqua in it as well. I have had this in my head since seeing this quilt. But I will confess this was a total accident. Apparently I am not too swift and can't operate a tape measure, and cut my sashing too short. Ga! And to avoid a FIFTH trip back to the fabric store, I added the aqua strips. In the end I love it.

As another side note- I rounded the corners of the rink to make it more authentic- it took me a couple hours to do that, it was hard! I also did some hand stitching detail on the rink circles...this little bit added about 3 hours to this crazy thing. What the heck am I doing??

I have to say, this is the most involved quilt BACK I have ever made, and that I ever INTEND to make! I think you can pretty much call this puppy reversible :-)

Quilt preview

Well, I am starting the new year off with a bang and racing to finish the quilt I promised to Big G for his upcoming 7th (!!) birthday. Top- DONE! About 100 different fabrics went into this puppy. Here is a preview. Look- even my corners match up! Well, most of them :-) Don't mind the poor lighting, all this is done on the sly late at night!
Now, on to the back. You KNOW I can't just do a boring plain one.....I have something in mind that I think will knock the socks off my little hockey fan :-) Not finished yet, but here is a sneak peak!
Who's the best Hockey Mom ever??

The latest

Lots of crafting stuff on the go lately, including some squares cut for my next quilt-in-progress. Did you know that I have completed 12 quilts to date, but not a single one has been for me or my family? I love giving them away, but have vowed that the next few will be for my own kids, the hubby and me....need one to snuggle with as the winter closes in on us! Anyways, this one here is intended for Big G, my son who will turn 7 (!!) in January. I am going scrappy and using a total of almost 100 (!! again!) fabrics in this one, inspired by this quilt I saw during the Blogger's Quilt Festival. So much fun to revisit so many of my favorite fabrics :-) Hope to get it done in time!
Also working on some SECRET projects...Christmas presents, including a Christmas swap that I am doing through Little Miss Shabby. My partner is the lovely Sue in Australia. We have quite different styles so it has been a fun challenge to "think outside the box" a bit! I have been working hard to get everything made so that it can be mailed with some hope of reaching her in time for the holidays! Here is a sneak peak of part of her Christmas package....
Promise to have "full reveals" of these and other WIPs soon!