Finally Finished

No name for this quilt. Just a small one playing with 1/2 square triangles and fabric leftovers from several old quilts. I am proud of this finish as it is the first time I sewed the binding down by hand. I usually cheat and do a zig-zag on my machine or have Kimberly hand stitch for me. I did this one myself though and it's not too shabby.  This was pieced by me and sacrificed to Kimberly to long arm as she wanted to try out the new Innova.

Francesca 

Do. Good Stitches - Hope Circle - more blocks for August

Here are  two more flying geese  blocks for the do. Good bee.  August was my month to be the quilter, (in charge of the design, quilting and finishing) and the quilt is a little late since a few people in the bee did not complete the blocks (I know - right?  Grrrr...).  Francesca kindly stepped up to make two and these are the additional two I made.  Francesca will have hers done in a day or so and I can move on to sewing the quilt top together and moving it to a finish. Yay! 

In the meantime I have been working on sewing down the binding on Mixed Berries and I am about 3/4  of the way done.  I know the recipient will be happy to finally receive her graduation present!

Do. Good Stitches - Hope Circle - October

Here are my blocks for October.  Of course I did not remember until they were finished that the example blocks were scrappy with different fabrics throughout.  But at least they match the color scheme requested and they are finished!  Mailing them off today and looking forward to November.

I also finished up the  quilting on Mixed Berries,  the scrappy trip around the world quilt.  I will be working on getting the binding sewn down over the next few days and another WIP can be crossed off the list.

Another vinyl zipper bag

Love the chartreuse with the navy zipper and red binding! Should have used navy to install the zipper though!

Pattern from crazymomquilts.

Wonderful Weekend

Things have been so crazy around here lately.  A bunch of construction-y things going on around the house being generally disruptive.  Trying to squeeze in some exercise time before the weather really gets nasty.  Also a TON of tie-dye lately.  If you haven't checked out Do Or Dye on Facebook, you should, you really should.  If you are really not in to Facebook, you can also see most of my dyes on my flickr stream, see link on right side bar.  However, with all the craziness, I managed to have an AWESOME weekend yesterday and today.  It was filled with family, fabric and fun!  On Saturday my mom and I hit some of our favorite fabric stores in the Naples and Penn Yan area.  We also visited the awesome Bernina dealer where we got our sewing machines.  I finally gave in and bought a FMQ foot for my Bernina.  More on that later.  We then met up with my boyfriend, dad, sister and her "friend" and went to an auction in Penn Yan.  It was my first time going to an auction and it was pretty cool.  My mom actually snagged some crafting supplies pretty cheap!  We all had a great time on a gloomy day!

Today I spent some quality time with my Bernina.  I planned on sewing ALL day but life got in the way as usual.  I worked on a few projects, but did not get to everything I wanted to.  However, it felt great to finally work on some projects I have been thinking about for a while but have had to move to the back burner.  I also had a visit from a great friend who was in need of some tie dye expertise and managed to get groceries today, whew!  

Here's my fabric haul from Saturday's adventures.  On the far left, 1 yard of Ticklish by My Sister and Me for Moda in flannel (for rice warmies).  1 yard each of some lovely Moda solids.  2 yards of Honey Honey by Kate Spain for Moda (I got it 40% off!).  The polka dot print is Riley Blake - 1/2 yard and the purple is also from the Ticklish line and also 1/2 yard.  The fat quarter was only $1.50 and I bought it as I am trying to get more purple in my stash (as you call probably tell).  Isn't it funny how I bought fabric in 3 different stores and it all co-ordinates so nicely?

And now some pictures of what I got to work on today.  First, I worked on this block of mini flying geese I am making for Kimberly's do.Good stitches quilt.  A few stitchers in her group had to drop out and I volunteered to be sort of a guest stitcher to help her get all the blocks she needs to put the quilt together and finish it.  I have to make another just like it, sooner rather than later.  The patter is from LieslMade and pretty simple considering how royally I fail at angles most of the time. 

Next up is a paper piece pattern I have been wanting to put together for a loooong time.  The pattern is called Wee Lil' Penguin and is one of several paper piece patterns I have won over at Sewhooked.  The original pattern is 5" but I blew this guy up to 10" and I have a GREAT idea what to use him for, but I don't want to ruin the surprise.  More on this in December, I promise.  Anyway, isn't he SO cute?!

Lastly, I have been working on my name tag for the next meeting of the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild.  Kimberly and I went to the October meeting and are going to try to make it to November's although it is a LONG drive for us.  In this piece I have married my two passions by first dying and discharging a piece of white Moda fabric and then quilting it up.  It still needs to be bound with some sort of neck strap or something added.  I'm still thinking that out as I don't want to just pin it to my shirt.  Other than a few practice scraps, this is my first FMQ on my Bernina.  My loops aren't perfectly circular, but it is a nice change from straight ling quilting, especially since this guy is WAY to small to load on the Innova.  All in all, I am pleased with how it is coming out, it's definitely as unique as me!  I hope you all had a great weekend too!

_ _ _ _ _keep stitchin'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

                   _ _ _ _ _francesca_ _ _ _ _ _

WIP Wednesday #2

Welcome to round 2 of WIP Wednesday! I hope everyone had a great month! I'm really excited to tell you that WIPW (work in progress Wednesday) has been a great motivational tool for me. I feel like it really helped me get some things done in the past few weeks that I may have kept procrastinating if I didn't have today's deadline to keep me on track.

First up, the POD:

As you can see, I made 2, count it, 2, new blocks this month! The #12 block is the one with the books with the star and lightning bolt on the spines. #13 is the 'monster book of monsters' (copyright JK Rowling, I'm sure). Those teeth were even harder that Hedwig's feathers! SOOOOO many angle pieces! There are a few things in life I just DON'T get, angles are one of them. Decimals are occasionally another, although I am fine with fractions. I messed up some of the colors on the monster book, but I was way too tired when I finished it up last night to un-sew. I'm an imperfect creature, so I'm ok with imperfect quilts, especially since there is no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks that I will ever give this quilt away! Anyway, really pleased with the progress on this project. I haven't even peeked at the next block yet, I'm sure it rocks though, and I promise to show you my completed version next WIPW.

Next up is the 5" square diamond quilt. I'm still thinking of names. Maybe 'diamonds are a girl's best friend'? It is going to be a pretty girly quilt. Pink, white, yellow and green. BTW, Kimberly and I are big on naming our quilts. Do you guys name your quilts? Leave a comment below and let us know! Here's the pic btw:

So I currently have 20 blocks made for this quilt, as promised. I also cut ALL the fabric. There is one more fabric not shown in the pic above. Noteworthy by Sweetwater in a very pretty green. I am loving the fabrics I chose for this quilt. It is going to be so sweet. I want to take a minute to mention that I used Kimberly's AccuQuilt to cut ALL these 5" squares....and....it was AWESOME! I cut about 5-5.5 yards of fabric into 5" squares in about 1:30 start to finish, ironing and all, and they are just as accurate if not more so, than anything I can rotary cut. The AccuQuilt IS an expensive system, especially since each different die costs extra, but if you can splurge on one, and you do a lot of cutting, it's worth looking in to. My dad and I split the cost last year on Mother's Day to buy Kimberly's and I know she loves it, and now I know why! Anyway, goal for next WIPW is 10 more blocks, for a total of 30/110 completed.

Last WIP to mention is one I am just starting. I have the fabric cut (as 90% came from 2 charm packs) and I have a tentative layout. I'm not going to mention it yet, but it's very cool and modernish. Here's a sneak peek at the fabric:

Sorry for the blurry picture, I just snapped it quick just now and I'm getting tired! You might not be able to tell, but the majority of the fabric is from Moda 'Cuzco' by Kate Spain, which I have been in love with since it came out. I bought a charm pack and used a few squares on small projects, but when I saw the pattern I am going to make, I knew I wanted to use this line, so I bought another charm pack. I don't really buy pre-cuts very often. I do so more for the variety than the convenience of having the fabric cut into a particular size. In this case, I really loved the whole line and all the colors, so I wanted a little bit of everything. I am really excited about this quilt. I don't know if I can swing having the entire top pieced by next WIPW, but I will try to have at least 4 rows out of 13 sewn and pressed.

That's all for now, folks. I hope you enjoyed my WIPW update; the next will be 11/20/2013, hope to see you then! And I would love to see your WIP(s) so leave a comment with a link!

Keep crafting!

Francesca

Dresden Pillow

I made a dresden flower a few weeks ago and it has been stuck on my design wall ever since.  I decided I would make a throw pillow.  I dragged out the Essex linen I have been saving (no, hoarding) for months.  It looks terrific with the warm colors of the dresden blades.  Instead of a tradional applique, I fastened down   the  dresden with some outline stiching following the seams in each blade.  The center circle has an extra layer of batting to add volume.  I machine stitched a blanket stitch to attach the circle.  I am not completely happy with that part  since it was hard to make sure the needle caught the edge of the circle for each stitch.  I had to go back and re-do one spot.  I did a little FMQ with my Bernina using Aurifil thread 50  wt and added the feather flower in the middle and some stipple quilting outside the dresden on the linen.  I did not get a picture of the back but there is a covered  zip closure.  Finished product is approximately 20" square.

A few more pictures of the new Studio

Studio progress

There has been a lack of  blogging (and sewing much to my dismay) as we soldier on with the studio construction.  It seems to be taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  Actually I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and every task completed is one step closer to done.  My dear hubs  built these shelves for me last week and I think they look fabulous!  He is so very talented.  The south wall is  almost done with the exception of a few small things.  We finished the second layer of insulation on the east wall and now it is ready for drywall then the bead board.

In the meantime I have having some serious sewing withdrawal.  I do have some bee  blocks to work on for  do. Good so maybe this weekend I will sneak in some time at the Bernina.

We are getting close to the big raffle for the quilt I made and donated to the Foreign Exchange Club my daughter belongs to.  The drawing will be at half-time during the homecoming football game.   I will be sorry to see it go and hope it finds a good home!

Another taggie cube

I just whipped up another super sweet taggie for a new gramma! The squares on this one are just shy of 5". Again, a nice combo of quilting cotton and flannel with coordinating ribbons. I kept the "tags" a little shorter on this one and I like how they seem to stick up more rather than flop down. I love the colors and I sure hope baby Landen does too!