Joining In: One Week, One Thing and Finish It Up

I've realized that I really need to spend some time digging my way out of my sewing room. There are several piles of fabric and unfinished projects sitting around. Obviously I need some motivation, so I've joined in on a couple of fun challenges.

First up is Amy's One Thing, One Week Challenge. No pressure with this one, just do one thing per week. I'm a planner, so being able to specify one project at a time will be great.

My plan for this week is to baste and quilt this picnic blanket:

If I can get the binding done too, that'll be even better.

The second challenge I'm joining is Meg's Finish It Up Challenge. This one will last all summer. I've gone through my WIP drawer and found some things that I'd completely forgotten about.

Here are the projects I hope to finish this summer:

Sew 4 clothing protectors (aprons) for hospice.

Bind my Vintage Squares quilt.

I started this Mama Backpack at least 2 years ago. Just need to make casings for the drawstring and sew the sides together.

Baste, quilt and bind this quilt top from June 2009.

More basting, quilting and binding. I can't even remember when I made this scrappy log cabin quilt top.

So, with some traveling and other planned activities, this should be plenty to keep me busy through the summer.

Wish me luck!

Garden Update

Summer is obviously here. It's gotten hot and my garden is going crazy! Tonight, we picked 8 pounds of produce.....cucumbers, yellow squash, green bell peppers and first of the season tomatoes.

Coming soon.....peas, beans, eggplant, anaheim chiles, jalapenos and tomatillos.

June 4th????

As usual, time has been flying by.

The last few weeks have been super busy with the end of the school year and fighting a rotten cold. Luckily, all the school stuff is finished and I'm feeling better.

Bring on summer vacation!

I have managed a little sewing recently. The BMQG had it's first swap last week. The theme was Summer Mug Rugs. This is the mug rug that I made:


I was inspired by the Accidental Landscapes of Karen Eckmeier. This was actually the second beach scene mug rug that I made. Hubby loved the first one so much that he said I couldn't give it away. It reminded him of some of the beaches that we like to visit on family trips.

I also have a new quilt in the works. And a plan to finish some of my UFOs!

Thanks Easter Bunny!

"No, I really didn't eat the ears off that chocolate bunny!"

Quilted Circles Shoulderbag

My niece is turning 18 next week and I wanted to make something spectacular for her birthday. She loves handbags. She's also into the hippie vibe and the color purple. With a little help from the gals at Strawberry Patches, this is what I came up with:

The pattern is the Quilted Circles Shoulderbag from One Yard Wonders. The main bag fabric is Millefiore by Kaffe Fasset

Instead of circles, I fussy cut the flowers from Kaffe Fassett's Big Blooms, then raw-edge appliqued them to both the front and back of the bag. The flowers help to bring out more of the purple in the Millefiore fabric.

I hope she likes it.

Happy Birthday Erin!

On trial

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 1 close up

Exhibit 2
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Guilty!

Improv Quilting

At our guild meeting last week, we learned about Improv Quilting. Well, maybe "learned" is the wrong word. It seems like a bit of an oximoron to "learn" about something that is supposed to be done in an off-handed way.

Anyway, we talked about Improv Quilting and then got to play with scraps on design boards. It as really fun seeing how other quilters arranged their scraps. Our group had the bag of pink scraps and we all got to take some home with us. (Thanks Terri!)

Here's what I did with mine:

For anyone who knows me, you know that I don't do random. Improv is a little difficult for me. And I will admit that this block wasn't completely off the cuff. There was a little thinking involved.

I've also started working on a crazy quilt. Again, I just can't let it all be random, so I decided I'd work primarily with my pink scraps to create my blocks.

Crazy Quilt block 1




Crazy Quilt block 2

At first I didn't like these blocks at all, but I think I'm warming up to them. I'm going to make at least 6 blocks to see how I feel about this kind of quilt making before I throw in the towel.