WIP Wednesday - Halloween Edition

It's been eight months since my last WIP post, so counting out this list is quite complicated.  I don't have any big finishes, but I have a lot of tops.  Hopefully next week's WIP will be the Quilting Edition. 

Completed Projects:

*Halloween Costumes - I'm going to count this one as new (and finished!) today.  The hubby and I are going to a Halloween party tonight, and a costume was not optional.  Three old shirts and a little fiberfill later - PONG!

Ongoing Projects: 

FINISHING: 

Star Log Cabin - Still needs a label - the label is actually all made up, just needs to be written and dated.  I was actually sorting though photographs from the nineties a couple weeks ago and came across progress photos of this quilt!  I think that means it's an older WIP than I had thought.  I guess this is on hold until I can pin down a better date for its piecing (and quilting).

QUILTING:

Diamond Throw - Top is DONE!  I waffled, but finally decided to put on borders, and I'm really happy with how it framed it.  The backing is pieced and ready to go.  And I bought a king size batting, so I'm ready to go to town on quilting when I get my courage up.

*Bento Box throw - Hah, another new one!  I had a roll of strips hanging out, and decided

*Sneaky project - Shh.  Backing purchased, waiting for piecing then quilting.

Fall Leaves wall hanging - Looking lovely, ready to be basted.

*Dots wall hanging - Applique finished - a zigzag with matching thread worked nicely.  Basted and ready for quilting.  I'm thinking about trying circle quilting on here.  I had actually tried before to do a spiral overall, but quilting over the fusible web did not go nicely, so I think I'll avoid that.  The edges look choppy, but I'm planning on "framing" it with a quilting hoop, and that will cover all the choppy bits - this is destined for my bathroom wall.

Placemat Pair - One down, one to go.  I really like the one that's finished, so you would think I would get on the second one faster.

PIECING:

Sister Sampler - I'm now ahead of my sister on this one!  For her birthday, I slipped in an extra Friendship Star block, and made one up in each of our colorways.  She's busy working multiple jobs and applying for grad school, so this is on the back burner.

Red and White Crosses and Losses - There's a long story here about how I ordered more of the red I ran out of and it turned out that it didn't match at all and I got sad at the online shop that promised they had matched it.  However, before complaining, I double checked my order, and this one is all on me.  The Fat Quarter Shop was extremely helpful matching the color, and I was careless in ordering.  Now I need to order the right red, and find something to do with three yards of the wrong red.

No Progress/On Hold:

FINISHING:

Curtains for the dining room - These have been hanging for ages, but one still needs hemming.  Oops?

QUILTING:

Hand-quilted dresden plates

Orange and aqua pillow covers

Orange and aqua throw

PIECING:
Wedding Quilt
Old Timey Stars

Dad's Sudoko Puzzle

This Week's Stats:
New projects - 4
Completed projects - 1
Currently in progress - 16

Sister Kick in the Butt

I chatted with my sister yesterday, and was severely chided for not blogging and for staying well behind on our quilt-along.  (Like, more than a year behind - whoops!)  Sufficiently berated, I went out and bought more fabric - that's progress, right? 

Quilt-Along Progress:

Eliza's Ninepatch - done
Star Dreams & 54-40 or Fight - done
Twirling Star - pieces cut and problematic
Spinning Star
Calypso
Centennial
Rising Star
Blazing Star
Star Stairway
Windmill Star
Missouri Star
Broken Star
Ringed Star - (super scary, with partial seams - being saved for last)

So that's 3 out of 14 done.  I might need to replace the light pink that I chose for the middle of the Twirling Star block.  While I'm debating, I think I'll go ahead and do the Spinning Star block and come back to the Twirling (is that okay, Karen?).

Diamonds

Working six days a week has limited my quilting time, and I've been even more distracted for the last two weeks searching in and indexing the 1940 census.  I have managed to finish the top for our diamond quilt in bits and pieces.  This was Eric's idea and fabric selection, and we planned out all of the layout together.  He did a large part of the cutting, and I did all the piecing and pressing.  And he's the one holding it up for the photo shoot.  Definitely a joint effort.  This is destined to be a throw in our living room, fitting with my comfy armchair:

Now to choose a backing and find the time to quilt it!

WIP Wednesday

New Projects: 

It's finally winter - quilts in the snow!

Star Log Cabin - This is really an OLD project, started when I was in high school!  I brought this back from my parents' house at Christmas, and decided to get to work on it and finally finish it.  I had finished the top quickly and hand-quilted it, but got stalled on the binding.  For some reason I decided it needed a bias binding, even though it doesn't have any curves and has some bleeding issues so it won't be washed.  This week I decided to soldier on, and now the binding is attached and waiting for some quality hand-sewing time.  

Roll of bias binding - finally made up.

Detail of the bleeding, which looks worse in person than it does on film.

Free Motion Quilting - I've done my homework for my FMQ class tomorrow night - cutting and pin-basting 18" sandwiches.  I'm wicked excited about my new FMQ foot and the prospect of improving my skills here.

Ongoing Projects:

Diamond Throw

No Progress/On Hold:

Placemat Pair

Curtains for the dining room

Fall wall hanging of maple leaves

Orange and aqua throw

Sisters Sampler
Wedding Quilt
Old Timey Stars
Dad's Sudoko Puzzle

Hand-quilted dresden plates

Orange and aqua pillow covers - still not dropped off my list

This Week's Stats:
New projects - 2
Completed projects - 0
Currently in progress - 13

2012 Sewing Plans

The new year has me reflecting on how I go about sewing, and I am making some plans (is it too late for them to be resolutions?) about what and how I want to sew this year. 

1. Finish more.  I am really good at diving into projects, pretty okay at finishing tops, and horrible at follow-through.  This is why I still have UFOs from more than eight years ago (almost a quarter of my life!).  I have already taken a stab at this particular UFO, and I'm hoping to finish the binding soon.  I'm also thinking of using the Finish It Up Friday link up at Crazy Mom Quilts as motivation to push myself to follow through on more.  Which leads me to...

2. Blog more.  As I've said before, once I miss a bit, I feel like I'll never catch up, and it perpetuates itself.  I am going to try to post more, maybe with more link ups - and hopefully with more finishes!  I want an awesome collage of finishes at the end of 2012. 

3. Explore more.  I want to push myself to learn new things (hopefully without starting too many new tangent UFOs.)  I am signed up for a free motion quilting class this week (and I have to finish my basting homework in prep for that!).  I also have a project set on the shelf because of my fear of Y-seams, which I need to get over and tackle.  I know I'll make good friends with my seam ripper for both of these, but they'll make me a better and more well-rounded quilter. 

WIP Wednesday

Completed Projects: 

Secret Project - Like I said earlier this week, all completed and on its way to a very special family member.  To be shared soon.  

Christmas Gifts - Posted earlier this week.

New Projects: 

None!  I have been sorting through some inherited blocks, but that's an OLD project, and I haven't technically started working on it yet.  However, here's a sneak peek at some antique Sunbonnet Sues: 

Ongoing Projects:

This now has another row of blocks across the top.

Diamond Throw - The nine-patch units are all sewn up as blocks, and they are assembled into diagonal rows.  We did some figuring on how to square up the edges, and I've been working on that.  It needs a little more width, which means picking up an appropriate light reproduction fabric to work with.  

Crosses and Losses - Interestingly, for the last couple weeks, the Quilt Index Blog has been focusing on examples of the Old Maid's Puzzle, which is a different name for the Crosses and Losses block.  I made a bunch more blocks, but ran out of Moda Ruby, and have to order since my local quilt shop is out.  I had planned to make a complete top of the same block, but the Quilt Index examples are making me reconsider using sashing or setting blocks. 

No Progress/On Hold:

Placemat Pair

Curtains for the dining room

Fall wall hanging of maple leaves

Orange and aqua throw

Sisters Sampler
Wedding Quilt
Old Timey Stars
Dad's Sudoko Puzzle

Hand-quilted dresden plates

Orange and aqua pillow covers - still not dropped off my list

This Week's Stats:
New projects - 0!
Completed projects - 2
Currently in progress - 12

WIP Wednesday

Go figure that the week I get my act together and write a WIP Wednesday post, the linkup goes on hiatus!  I'm posting anyway, and this week the linky icon goes just to the main page of Freshly Pieced.  Maybe I can do it on my own through January when the linky comes back!

Completed Projects: 

Spring Zig Zag! - I got some time over Thanksgiving to sit and do some hand-sewing on the binding.  I think I have a couple of stitches left to put in the hanging sleeve, and it needs to be labeled, but it's completely bound, and I'm counting it as a win.  I mean, a finish.

A couple Christmas presents (new and completed, so I'll count it as one unit).  Secret, of course, until after Christmas.  There are a couple more to work on and to finish, but I'll plan on posting on them all after the holidays.

New Projects: 

Diamond Throw - Remember those diamonds I posted about my husband playing with a couple months ago?  They have evolved into a set of blocks and have been hanging out on the design wall.  Eric and I had a great morning playing with the diamonds and rearranging them.  

Ongoing Projects:

Secret Project - Finally making some progress on this - I need to quilt the border and bind and label it, and it can be off!  (And then, like the Christmas presents, it can stop being secret!)

Placemat Pair - One quilted, one to go.

No Progress/On Hold:

Crosses and Losses

Curtains for the dining room

Fall wall hanging of maple leaves

Orange and aqua throw

Sisters Sampler
Wedding Quilt
Old Timey Stars
Dad's Sudoko Puzzle

Hand-quilted dresden plates

Orange and aqua pillow covers - based on my new living room, I may be abandoning these.  I just have to convince myself that it's okay to drop something off my list!

This Week's Stats:
New projects - 2 (counting Christmas gifts all together)
Completed projects - 2
Currently in progress - 13

WIP Wednesday #2

I had a nice long three-day weekend for Labor Day, with two days all on my own.  I felt so productive!  I cut half-square triangles while watching the entire first season of Glee (yeah, I'm late to the party).  


Completed Projects:

Nada.

New Projects:

Fall wall hanging of maple leaves (no pictures yet).  

Ongoing Projects:

Crosses and Losses - Lots and lots of cutting and sewing HSTs and trimming.  Eight twelve-inch blocks down, I'm not sure how many to go.  I'm thinking that I'd like to make it bed-sized, which means a couple more weekends of sewing.  

Curtains for the dining room - One panel is done, one needs to be hemmed still.  But it's pinned up and hanging, so it's a partial win, right?

Tops Awaiting Quilting:

Placemat Pair - Finished the second front and cut batting.  Still debating cross-hatch and organic wavy quilting.

Quilted Awaiting Binding:

Spring Zig Zag (half-bound)

No Progress/On Hold:

Secret Project
Orange and aqua throw

Orange and aqua pillow coversSisters Sampler - found out that I'm more behind than I realized, made a list, and got copies of my sister's drafting
Wedding Quilt
Curtains for the dining room
Old Timey Stars
Dad's Sudoko Puzzle

Hand-quilted dresden plates

This Week's Stats:
New projects - 1
Completed projects - 0
Currently in progress - 14

WIP Wednesday (#1!)

I'm joining in the Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday for the first time this week.  It seems like a perfect linky for me - I love lists, and I have plenty of things in progress.  

I've been a little stalled in progress because of a living room makeover (involving *three* trips to the furniture store, one failed delivery of a couch that wouldn't fit, and four to seven more weeks of waiting) and a smelly washer, but I have made some progress!  I'm hoping that this linky (and especially those stats at the bottom) give me a push to at least move some things from the "On Hold" list to the "Ongoing" (or *gasp* "Completed"?) list.  

Completed Projects:

Sewing Machine Cover - This one was new *and* completed!  Start to finish in two days!  It's not the most shapely, but it will keep dust off and out of my machine.  

New Projects:

Crosses and Losses - Fabric acquired (Kona? Ruby and White), but not even washed yet.  I did do a mock-up in purples of my cheater plan for the block - all HSTs and squares means no evil bias triangles.  (The mock-up block doesn't count as a project, does it?)

Ongoing Projects:

Spring Zig Zag - Finished quilting and attached binding, just need to hand-sew the rest of the binding, add a hanger and a label!  Just in time for fall!

Orange and aqua pillow covers

Placemat Pair - One top is finished, and then I ran out of a fabric.  I'm trying to decide what quilting to do on these - crosshatch, squiggly lines, or taking another stab at free motion.  

Tops Awaiting Quilting:

I really thought there was something to go here.

No Progress/On Hold:
Secret Project (need to get moving on it!)
Orange and aqua throw
Sisters Sampler - held up by wedding and now sister's summer school schedule
Wedding Quilt
Curtains for the dining room
Old Timey Stars
Dad's Sudoko Puzzle - I have all nine blocks for this one, I just have to decide how to sash and set them, and if I want to make the quilt bigger somehow.  

Hand-quilted dresden plates
This Week's Stats:
New projects - 2
Completed projects - 1
Currently in progress - 13

Perfection

I've been struggling in my quilting with perfection.  Not that perfection is a problem, but my desire for it has been holding me back, making me afraid to try something lest I screw it up.  To illustrate: I have four projects sitting in my living room that are half-quilted.  (Okay, so part of that is that I have a lot of loose ends to weave in before I move on, and it's been HOT.)  But I keep second-guessing myself on how I want to quilt something or if I can execute what I imagine.  I'm making a resolution to go ahead and just finish some things.  If I botch it, I have my handy seam ripper and I will learn something from the process.

All that said, this (found here) is exactly how I want to finish quilting my zig-zag quilt - yes, the same one I've been waffling about since, oh, March?

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July!  Nothing like a solid deadline to get some projects finished!  We went to the Boston Pops dress rehearsal concert last night - and I realized Friday morning that we had nothing to sit on!  I took a top that I made in high school and had no idea what to do with:

I got the set of fat quarters as a freebie from a Shop Hop back in the day - and they are so wild they don't match anything else in my house or tastes.  So I threw on the borders, and in between other projects I got the whole thing quilted with a denim backing!  I finished the quilting with minutes to spare before our bus, so we took it unbound and sat on it.  No action shots from last night, though, because my husband liked it so much he wouldn't get up!  

A note about the photos - this is the first time I've really done a photo shoot of my quilt projects.  For the top one, I climbed up on a stone wall to put it up there, and may have attracted some strange looks from my neighbors (the downside of living in a city).  And then I decided to take advantage of our blooming hydrangeas and get more creative:

So, maybe it will get bound before we go out to the fireworks tonight.  For now, I'm nerding out with 1776 and homemade burgers, potato salad, and cake!  Yum!

Happy Spring, Part 2

With the temperature passing 60 degrees, it is pretty clearly spring this week.  And my zig-zag top is mostly done!  I'm debating whether to add another row of yellow at the bottom.  Binding will be in the dark purple to frame it nicely.  Now to find a backing fabric...

Happy Spring!

Well, it's been a while since I've been here!  I've been wicked busy, but actually not too much quilting until yesterday.  We've had a friend staying with us and it's finally been sunny enough that (most) of our snow is gone, so we've been out and about, enjoying the balmy fifty-degree weather.

I've also been working on wedding invitations - we printed them ourselves, Eric cut each of them, and I am hand-stamping the decorations:

These are cards requesting fabric for our wedding quilt.
Each is now stamped with "A REQUEST."  Whew!

Yesterday morning I did get some time to just sew and made progress on several projects.  I also figured out how to catch when my bobbin tension goes haywire, hopefully before it makes the back of the piece all loopy.  It's been driving me crazy for months.

My Spring Zig-Zags I started last time it snowed - I guess in protest and anticipation.  I was inspired by this quilt and used the HST tutorial from p. s. i quilt.

Mine is made with 4-inch finished blocks and will finish as a wall-hanging.  I did sketch it out and color it in pencil to make sure I had my dimensions right, then cut out my big squares and threw them up on the design wall.  I played with the layout until I liked the way the colors worked, then started sewing them into HST blocks.

This shows the progress about halfway through the piecing.
Wow, that second yellow shows up brighter in the photo!

Now my challenge is getting the points to kindof sortof match up when I sew those together - I'm getting better at it, but I'm also getting pickier, which has meant some seam ripping.  I'm also debating adding more yellow on the bottom, although I'm not sure I like my available options.  (By the way, this top is 100% stash except for the two yellows!)

Starting to join the rows and match points.  Yellows at bottom are auditioning to be included.

The other accomplishment from yesterday were pillow-case tops for my living room, to go with the throw quilt that is mid-quilting.  They were both planned as I went, with just the basic ideas of nine-patch and rail fences and using up the 1-inch borders I had left over.  I'm really happy with how they have turned out, although I think next time I do pillows, I'll start with a bigger basic block!  The one on the left will have the brown flowers as a border as well - that's next on the to-sew list!

I think that's sufficient cheeriness to celebrate this beautiful spring day!  I hope yours is as sunny and warm!

WIPs, WISPs, and UFOs

I acquired my love of quilting and fabrics from my mother at an early age.  However, as the titles of this post and this blog suggest, my experience in quilting mostly consists of works in progress and unfinished objects (or as I once heard them called WISPs - works in slow progress).  See, I love selecting fabric and pulling coordinating stacks and cutting and piecing.  But I get stuck at quilting and I'm too cheap to send my tops out to be quilted.  Last year I finally got my own sewing machine after six years without one, taught my fiancé to quilt, and learned that he actually enjoys and has talent for quilting!  

In light of this history, I thought I should start my blogging with an inventory of my patchwork in progress.  One of my goals for this blog is to prod myself to complete my WIPs and new projects.  

- Dragon Quilt (spring 2000)

Status: Completed

This wall hanging applique is, I believe, the only quilt I have totally completed.  It was a project for my eighth grade English class at the end of a unit focused on dragons.  

- Star Log Cabin (pre-2004)

Status: Quilted, needs binding

This was my first real quilt, directly from a pattern book: Quilt in a Day Star Log Cabin Quilt, by Eleanor Burns.  I went all-out in my fabric selection - blues, purples, and whites with star motifs.  The most major mistake was trusting my pre-washing enough to put a dark purple batik next to a white - this is a quilt that will definitely not be washed.  All that's left is to bind it, but the quilt is on the opposite side of the continent from the binding and me!

- Broken Bricks fat quarter quilt (pre-2004)

Status: Pieced Top

This quilt top went together very quickly from a fat quarter package I think I got as a prize in a quilt shop hop.  The bright red and bold fabrics were not my style, but they worked really well in this pattern from Fat Quarter Quilts by Mliss Rae Hawley.  I stopped at the top on this one because I don't have a plan for where to use this top.  

The fabrics used in the quilt - cut into strips.

- Purple Dresden Plates (started winter 2004)

Status: Hand Quilting In Progress

These blocks were pieced entirely by hand, and the top will be hand quilted.  I think I finished the top over Christmas break in 2004.  This means that it has been basted and on the quilt hoop for six years and it is half done.  

- Old Timey quilt (fall 2009)

Status: Portions of blocks pieced

I found a pattern called "Sowing Seeds" in a secondhand copy of Love of Quilting magazine, which is a variation on a traditional Virginia Star pattern.  I am using mostly Civil War period reproduction fabrics and plan on making it queen size.  I have all the diamonds cut but I can't get my Y seams to lay flat, so the quilt has stalled.  This is intended to be a quilt large enough to cover our bed, which makes it my most ambitious WIP.  

Excuse the horrible horrible picture!

- Eric’s Christmas Quilt (Dec. 2009)

Status: Quilted, binding in progress

I taught Eric to quilt on this one.  He chose the simple Mine Shaft pattern and selected the fabric himself.  Both of us cut and pieced, and he completed the quilting and is currently binding it.  The student has become a master, and I love it!

Again, excuse the awful lighting in this photograph...

- Teals and Oranges lap quilt (spring 2010)

Status: Quilting in progress

This quilt was inspired by a charm pack of 5" x 5" squares at JoAnn.  I usually prefer to match my own fabrics, but the combination of teals and oranges had already been in my mind for our living room and the pre-cut squares made a nice change from the finicky piecing of points in the old timey quilt.  This one is partially quilted, but issues in tension on my machine have held me up.  I need Eric to take over!

- Wedding Signature Quilt (for summer 2011)

Status: Planned and prototyped

For our wedding in June we are planning to make a signature quilt as a guestbook.  We are collecting fabric from friends and family and will use it to piece the top; the white strips will be signed at our wedding and other events.  I sketched it using the highly advanced graphic design tool of Excel!