WIP Wednesday

Between being off on Monday without kiddos at home...and then today Dayna was at home sick...I have been working on my niece's quilt.  Changed my mind again about her quilt and decided to dive into the Single Girls quilt...now that I know how to paper piece the rings!  The blocks have come together much more quickly than I thought they would!

  I just thought this was so cool to look at with all those pins in place!  It was easy to just pin all the blocks at one time and then chain sew.  Worked out great.

Here is a close up of the block...31 different fabrics and Kona Coal for the solid.  I love how the colors just pop!  I was playing around with the layout and really like this layout the best!

Here is the traditional layout....I'm still stuck on the first one though!!   

After honestly evaluating my WIPs, here are my stats:

In Progress:  10

Finished this week: 1

I am linking up here at Freshly Pieced!

Paper Piecing the Single Girl Quilt

I really, really love the Single Girl quilt pattern by Denyse Schmidt....but oh my word, all those pieces are mind numbing.  I was brave enough to buy the pattern and give it a try last summer, but things did not go well, at all.  My seam allowance was horrible, nothing fit right at all.  I was so bummed!!

So I got it in my head that SURELY I could paper piece this pattern!  And let me tell you....this is the way to go!  I didn't want to rip my hair out at any point while putting it together, and I actually think it takes less time to assemble.

I created my paper piecing pattern using a pencil and tracing paper.  I have a roll of tracing paper I got from the teacher supply store a while ago...and it's awesome for paper piecing.

 You need to keep the solid lines a the beginning and ends of each right, and at the tops and bottoms.  Trace around the solid lines and then the dotted lines.  Line up the dotted lines with the next piece in the ring.  Here I have the second ring, I lining up with J, then J lining up with K.

 At the end of the ring, finish tracing with the solid line at the end.

 Here is ring 2, ready for the paper piecing step!  The only issue I have with this method is that the rings are just a little too big to be able to copy on photocopier...so that means you have to create a template for each ring.  But that's still more accurate than cutting all those pieces by hand!

 If you've never paper pieced before, there are some great tutorials online...one of them here.

 Once all 4 rings are finished and pressed, trim and remove the paper.  You need to remove the paper before attaching to the background fabric.  I just followed the directions in the pattern for putting these blocks together.

 I used pins to remember which number each ring was.

 Here they are!!  Rings 1-4.  You can see the number pins in the middle reminding me what rings were which.

Now for the finished product!!  I can't believe how easy this ended up being compared to cutting each piece out one by one~can you tell that I HATE doing that!!  I can't wait to make an entire quilt using this method.  I didn't have to do any trimming up at the end, either...everything just matched up perfectly!  I hope this helps anyone else who feels the same way I do about the Single Girl!

Linking up at Skip to My Lou--Made by You Mondays!

WIP Wedesnday

I finished my vintage linen quilt top!  I am super excited about it, although there are a few things I'd do differently next time I make this pattern.  Next time, I will use framing diamonds, so I don't have to cut off any of the diamonds!  I will also make it bigger since I am just lovin this design!  I ended up quilting with a large stipple....I just didn't want the quilting to take away from the lovely vintage fabrics that remind me so much of my gramma and great aunt.  They are 2 of my dearest family members, even though my gramma died when I was 15.  She was such a fire cracker, but I loved that lady!!  We went toe-to-toe MANY times, too, for dumb stuff. But I have some wonderful memories of going to her house to spend the day, baking cookies at Christmas, watching Bonanza (snore), and sitting in the living room with her doing her crosswords....so many things.  She taught me how to make hot chocolate with milk (cuz that is the only way it even tastes good!!) and she had a secret language with my great aunt that was so funny to listen to!  I think that's just the way with sisters...me and my sis are the SAME way!!  Thanks for letting me indulge my nostalgic side...I miss her so much sometimes.

All that to say....the vintage linen quilt is done and I LOVE it! I have oodles of diamonds left over...thinking I need to have a giveaway to share :o)  Also, I am apologizing for the pics in advance....it's been raining on and off for a few days and haven't been able to get good pics!

 Close up of the quilting on the back...I used a pale pink for the backing.  

This is a quilt on the design wall for my sweet little niece :o)  Still figuring out how I want to lay out all the HSTs.

These lovely FQs came today!!!  I ordered them from Intrepid Thread on etsy (LOVE Julie, the lady behind the shop, btw) and am planning to make the girls matching bed quilts.  Planning to start after I get Julia's quilt finished!

Completed this week ~ 1
WIPs still in the works ~ 10

Linking up at Freshly Pieced!

Vintage Linen Quilt Top Basted

Maybe it's just me...but I HATE basting.  I have tried spray basting and am just not sold on it.  I think I prefer the pins since I know those suckers aren't moving!  Here she is...all laid out.

So, I thought I would also share a technique I learned when I first started quilting about 6 1/2 years ago now.  I am sure I read this somewhere, but I cannot remember.  Once the quilt is ready to be basted, put pins in 1/4 to 1/2 of the quilt, without snapping them closed.  To save your finger tips from the safety pins, use a spoon to snap the pins closed!

Here's a close up of the technique...maybe everyone already knows about this trick, but it was a revelation to me at the time!

Lift the pin up with the spoon....then close with the other hand.

I just had to take a picture at this angle!  My husband got me a telephoto lens for Christmas and I LOVE it!!

Now to quilt...any ideas on how to quilt it?  I will probably do an all-over design, but I'm just not sure yet.  I am working on my niece's quilt next!

Happy New Year and a Vintage Sheet Quilt Top!

It's that time of the year again...a few days late! Lots of goals for this year...it just feels good.  I have lots of quilts to FINISH and more projects in my head than I know what to do with.  I have weight to lose (so original, I know!) and plans for a healthier life-style.

So, first up!  I finally got my vintage quilt top put together!!  I used this tutorial for assembly and I was very surprised by how easy it ended up being.

This quilt was inspired by Jane Austen's quilt my all-time fave author.  When I found out she also quilted, it just made me love her more!  I have to admit I was a little bit afraid of piecing all those diamonds (with all that bias), but I actually think I will make another one!  Anyway, I know I still need to square it up, put the back together, and finish quilting it....but this is progress for me.  One of my many goals for this year is to FINISH the quilt tops that are pieced and laying around, and to finish piecing the ones that are cut out and stored in baskets waiting for my time. So....here's to 2012!!!

Vintage Linens Quilt Top Stats:

# of Diamonds - 103
Lap Size - 50 x 65
Time Piecing - the length of New Moon, Eclipse, and Sense and Sensibility (hehe!)

Linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday!

Merry Christmas!!

Girls snug in their beds...cookies out for Santa...birthday cake for baby Jesus frosted...we are ready for Christmas!!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Geeky Gifts--Comic and Superhero Etched Glasses

I saw this tutorial on Pinterest the other day, and knew I HAD to try it myself!!  I have some wonderful geeky men in my life...my husband and my bro-in-law but they are not the easiest to buy for.  I don't have a Silhouette machine so I had to go old school and print the logos onto paper, then cut them out of shelf-covering contact paper I got for a dollar at the dollar store.  That was the most time consuming of the whole project!

Here are the materials I used:

Set of 4 Glasses--$5.99 from Marshalls
Etching Cream--small bottle was $12.99 from Michaels so take a coupon!
Paint brush
stencil--I used the shelf-contact paper for $1 from the dollar store

I only made 3 so far because some of the other stencils I want to use will take me while to cut out.  Lesson learned is cut out all the stencils you want to use BEFORE you start this project!  These first 3 were pretty easy to cut out.  This was my first time using etching cream...so easy!!  Paint on up/down then across, thick coat.  Wait 5 minutes and rinse.  Doesn't really get any easier!

This would be great for sports logos, names, honestly, just about anything!

For my non-geeky friends...these are Thundercats, Batman, and Captain Marvel (aka Shamam)

This one is my fave so far!

So, off to make the rest!  I've got 5 more to do!  The small bottle of the etching cream seems to go a long way, so I will have to see what else I can etch :o)  I have a feeling I will be making more for my nephews, too!!

Wave Quilting Pattern and a Finish!

This is definitely my go-to machine quilting pattern.  It goes quickly, covering a lot of the quilt in a short amount of time, it's easy, and it looks pretty :o)  This is what it looks like on paper...it's a pretty fun quilting pattern.  I practiced a lot on paper before attempting the pattern on my quilts!  But I have to say...I am kind of in a machine quilting rut.  I need to branch out into other quilting techniques...but it's so easy to do what you already know!  What is your go-to quilting pattern?

This quilt top was made by a sweet student of mine a few years ago when I used to teach high school.  She was in 9th grade at the time, and was dying to make a quilt...perhaps I had something to do with that :o)  Anyway, we would take time each week in study hall to work on the quilt top.  That was almost 5 years ago now...and she never finished it.  Well, she finished the quilt top.  So her mom asked for me to finish it for her to give her as a Christmas present this year.  I am so excited to finish this for her!

close up of the back...I love the backs!

California Girl

This month is blurring by...again.  I want it to slow down!  Saturday we took the girls to Disney on Ice...oh my word, so much fun!!  This week, I had to go to San Francisco for some training for work. When I told my girls I was going, they cried....a lot.  Emma's first thoughts were, "but who's gonna check my homework??" So cute!  I'm from California, so I feel like I am totally at home.  I love it here!!  Watching the sun set on the ocean is just awesome!!  I am definitely a California girl :o)

Anyway, here I am at 5:30 in the morning, pacific time, wide awake.  The jet lag always kicks my tail, especially coming back home to the east coast. Not looking forward to that one!  When I went through airport security yesterday, I had to go through the big x-ray machine.  I really thought at any moment I was going to teleport to another dimension!  It's circular shaped, and the x-ray thingy spins around...very sci-fi.  Then after I got x-rayed, I had to get a pat down.  It was a little disturbing...especially when they started squeezing my hair and patting my head.  Really?  I have huge hair, but hello, really??  What exactly am I going to p up there?  I guess you can't be too careful, but I thought it was a little over the top!  The flight yesterday was pretty uneventful, except I am pretty sure airplanes just keep getting smaller and smaller!  I sat on the aisle and got brushed by every larger bottom that came my way.  So much fun!

In crafty news, I started a new hand-piecing project so that I could take it with me on the flight, not an easy task when you have to keep elbows inside your little seat. I haven't gotten very far...but I love this project!!  It's pretty much going to take me forever to finish, but that's okay.  The fabrics are a random assortment...the quilt shop was having a great sale on fat quarters!!  I am hoping to work on it a lot on this trip!!