Play Mat

I finished my first sewing project for my boys, and I couldn't be happier with it:

No shopping required for this little play mat: I fell in love with the Storyboek prints and added them to my stash a while ago, and the Kona Medium Gray and Butter went with it perfectly. I even had the binding on hand! Nothing quite like a nice soft satin corner to nuzzle against (especially one made by mom...eekk, I'm the mom!!).

The back

 I've long admired Ashley's strip quilts, and it was so easy and fun to make one of my own. This one finished at about 44"x50". I used a combination of quilt-as-you-go, machine top-stitching, and hand-quilting with perle cotton thread.

I like the variety of texture ALMOST as much as the minimal basting!! I didn't even spray-baste, as Nova suggests. I just pinned the strips for the backing down, and went from there. I lined everything up by eye, and it worked out fine.

23 weeks!

Since I usually use a self-binding method, I had some difficulties with the binding. First, I started sewing it on from left to right (bad), then I tried to make a mitered corner without setting the edge of the binding flush with the edge of the quilt (impossible). Ah, lessons learned.

I can't wait to see my sons enjoying this cozy play place! Though currently they seem pretty content to battle it out in the womb...I get such a kick out of watching my belly lurch around as they stretch and play in there.

Mumu and my brother's quilt are on their way back from the long-arm quilter's magic hands! They should arrive by Friday. I can't wait to bind those puppies and send my brother's on its way to him. But first...I may find a crafty way to incorporate his beloved freshman beanie.

A search through my stash revealed a few hidden gems that I'd forgotten about. Twice the kids means twice the quilts! What could make a cozier quilt backing than this luscious velveteen? I've just got to figure out what the front should look like.

And you can never have too many receiving blankets, right? (Much, much more AMH flannel and voile are on their way to my doorstep as we speak.)

This will become a few new couch pillows. Our current pillows are much loved, much used, and much mismatched from our whole living room. Time for a change!

As for my other projects...I've gotten in quite a bit of hand-quilting on Paisley Sunrise, but any sort of cutting, piecing, and laying out quilt tops takes a lot out of me and I've been pacing myself carefully. I've got at least 14 weeks before the babies arrive (ack!! is that all?!), so I hold out hope for my other WIPs...if I can manage not to add more to the list!

Check out more progress at Lee's:

It's A...

...couple of BOYS! :o)

Our 20-week ultrasound revealed two healthy little boys, already duking it out in there. Mr Awesome and I are floating beyond happiness and getting really excited to meet these two little guys!

I knew I fell in love with these tiny Storyboek whales for a reason...

Now they will become a cozy playmat for our bambinos.

Odds, Ends, and a September Deadline

Now that I have bambinos on the way, I better get cracking through this WIP pile. They are due October 1, but twins usually come early, so I'm setting a deadline of September 1, just to be on the safe side (with room to procrastinate, of course).


Let's assess the damage, shall we?










1. Quilt Bee - Finished

I finished up these blocks for my quilt bee a while ago. Sadly, I made the decision to drop out of the bee, due to my diminished energy level and new responsibilities on the horizon. I feel good about clearing my plate, but it's always tough to let go of a good thing.











2. Brother Quilt - Sent out to my long-arm quilter friend! Thank you, Kristin!

The top is done!! Huzzah! (Though after this picture I added a 10" purple border on the top and bottom.) I'm so happy with how the top turned out. I pulled together the left over scraps from the top, as well as a big piece of purple and gold fabric Mr Awesome had gotten in Guam years ago. I didn't even look at it until it was done...and I love it. Pictures when it comes back quilted. It's a little larger than queen-sized, and I don't want to wrestle it under my little machine. I really can't wait to gift this to my brother for his graduation in June.

3. Mumu - Sent out to my long-arm quilter friend! Double thank you, Kristin!

We were having issues with spreading it out. I'm looking forward to getting some good pictures once it's complete.

4. Meanwhile I still have scrappy blocks that will become matching pillows. A pretty spring bedroom set for us!

5. Spring Sampler - Cut self off from scrap obsession (or channel it elsewhere)

Curse the scrappy gods and their wicked ways of depositing more and more green and yellow scrap into my life on a daily basis. I've been leisurely making block after randomly sized block and frankly it has to stop somewhere. Since it's SPRING again, and this infinite project could drag on for the next 50 years, it's time to put this top together, make the back (I already sense an on-coming scrap attack there), quilt, bind, and add perle cotton detail by hand. I'm considering hand-quilting the whole thing in perle cotton, but I also want to practice my free-motion quilting on the machine. Maybe both. Hmm, decisions...

5. Emma's Trip Around the World - Finish back, tie, bind

This back will be a cinch: the block is already made, I just need to surround it with Kona Snow, tie it up, and bind it. I might also go ahead and reinforce some of the seams in the top, and bind it by machine (hey, it's what my great-grandma would do).

6. Bonus: Paisley Sunrise - Finish hand-quilting, bind by machine

I'm taking it a bit easy on myself with this one. It has a significant amount of hand-quilting still to go, and I feel like I only get slower at it. If I don't meet the deadline here, it'll be something the twins can enjoy interrupting until they're at least 5 or 6. At least quilts never go out of style :o)

7. New projects

An untold number of baby quilts, books, blankets, wall hangings, mobiles, bibs, and storage boxes.

8. What I will NOT be making

Clothing. Of any type. My wonderful mom is already compiling patterns for the babies, which I will not be touching with a 10-foot pole. Cute - yes, necessary - yes. Yet I sweat when cutting out and sewing anything that is not quadrilateral. I'm very grateful my mom loves to make wearables (and she's great at it too)!

Wish me luck, and check out more WIPs over at Lee's:

Spring is in Full Bloom, and So Am I

Spring has sprung.

I love looking out at my neighbor's yard. It's an overgrown explosion of life and lush color. There is a calico cat that loves to prowl in there and chase the birds. My allergies tell me it's just a bunch of weeds, but the unplanned white and yellow floating over a tangle of green makes me excited for this new season.

As I was zooming in to capture a lily, I realized I was acting like a total creeper! Who hangs out a window to get pictures of other people's property? But surrepticious picture-taking aside, this is one of my favorite things to see in this season.

Something else is in full bloom.

Don't mind the unmade bed!

Mr Awesome and I are expecting twins (due Oct 1)!! We are so lucky to be getting TWO babies! I'm now 18 weeks (though the pic is 17 weeks), and expanding daily. Being pregnant is a strange, beautiful, amazing, confusing, rich, powerful experience. Wow.

Double the babies (and in this case, two placentas, too) means double the hormones, so I have been literally quite sick and tired for the past 3 months. More tired than sick, thankfully. It's cut down my sewing...walking...talking... sleeping...and everything else, except for EATING, which I am digging into like a professional.

Babies seem to be cropping up in the neighborhood. Our friend and neighbor is 34 weeks, and celebrated the imminent arrival of her little bundle with a shower last weekend. She is an avid reader, and requested favorite children's books to build her little one's library. Of course I couldn't resist making a book I know a tiny person would love. It was nice to get back behind the machine (especially now that the babies can hear sounds outside the womb...gotta force teach them to love the purr of the Bernina!).

I did the stitching free-hand, and it came out okay.

White for a baby? I know - but it was the only corduroy I had on hand, and I wanted something with tactile interest.

Some taggie pages to chew on.

And what children's book would be complete without an interesting picture, full of colorful, whimsical details? I can't think of a better use for Valori Well's Paisley print from Nest.

Okay I admit it - maybe I partly wanted to pattern-test this sweet item for my bambinos :o) I will definitely be making more of these little books!

Happy spring!

WIP Wednesday

Back to the blog and back to positivity! It was nice to have a little break to putter without being accountable :o)

I've been doing a little of this...like a Figure 8 scarf for myself out of some delicious Anna Maria Horner voile and flannel...

...and a little of that. I finally got back on the Spring Sampler horse by laying it out and realizing, huh, it's not such a big quilt, after all. A relief after the queen-sized beast that is Mumu (more on that later).

Inspired by the improv construction of this block, I put nearly all the remaining green and yellow scraps to use in these easy-peasy strips. I plan to weave them throughout the sampler randomly. I figure it will provide some constancy throughout the pattern.

I finally finished up the last big block from the Mumu scraps, which I had intended to use in finishing up the quilt back. I spent about 3 days laying out the pieces, but nothing felt right. I had to admit I just wasn't ready to commit to a plan, so I put it away. Sigh. When the time is right, it will come together.

But the really big finish is a new curtain for our (reclaimed!) kitchen. Our apartment is pretty awesome, but the kitchen is teeny tiny and oddly shaped.

Luckily it has this giant window. Up until now, the fridge has awkwardly stood in front of the window, taking up a ton of space and light.

As is often the case in our place, a little cleaning led to a little rearranging (thanks, Mr Awesome!). How happy I am to have a little dining nook!

But guys, I don't want to look at this while I'm eating. Ew.

Though I do wonder what that little door leads to...hmm, a mystery...

I wanted something that would let in the big blue sky, but tastefully cover the rest.

I had a half a yard of some beautiful Birch Storyboek fabric, to which I added to a fat quarter of some Kona solid and a yard of Kona White. The White was a little plain, so I top stitched four lines in reddish thread across the top and bottom, plus one random line near the bottom. It feels so cozy now, but light streams right in. Not a great picture of me, but hey, this is what I sacrifice for my little curtain.

My new hang-out spot!

As far as future projects go...I'm feasting on the flickr eye candy that is the Granny Square and Swoon. But I know I won't enjoy working on them until I finish my current WIPs! Good thing good patterns never go out of style. My To-Make list has enough on it for the next 50 years or so :o)

Check out more WIPs over at Lee's!

Tempo

I check out so many blogs every week let's face it, daily, and I'm always mystified by the prolific nature of some quilters. Granted, many folks are at home all day, or even make a living by crafting. But even when I have the time, I get tangled up in how "big" and "important" and "permanent" each decision is, which causes me to continually pump the brakes.

In grade school, I had a lucky little friend who somehow came into possession of a power scooter. I think it was being stored in her garage after her grandfather got a newer model. Naturally, we sneaked it out at the first opportunity and took it joy-riding around the neighborhood. The thrill! The glory! The ridiculousness!

The power scooter had two speeds: a picture of a tortoise and a picture of a rabbit. (To give you an indication of mph, on the rabbit setting my friend's older sister could easily jog by us, with enough breath for mocking as she went.) After a cautious beginning (after all, we'd never driven anything before), we set that sucker to rabbit and terrorized the neighborhood until we were caught by my friend's dad, who sensibly put the kibosh on our little adventures. Drat.

When I stand at the cutting table, I give a cursory glance around for the rabbit switch. My quilter speed seems to be stuck on tortoise all. the. time. These scrappy blocks for the back of Mumu took three days. I put in at least 30 minutes of staring for every couple of seams. It sometimes feels rather pathetic.

My goal on this project was to make decisions quickly and not be so fussy. It's tough to push myself to just act without doubt and debate, but it's definitely a worthwhile practice. I love the results. This is so beautiful to me.

Perhaps achieving a random or scrappy look can only be attained with a slightly reckless attitude. This one doesn't feel done yet. Plus I have a few more scraps that need using up. But maybe I should just get on with it already! :o)

Luckily I have the hand-quilting on Paisley Sunrise to soothe me. No other progress, I'm afraid. Still mighty tempted by Swoon...

WIP Wednesday

Yay, I'm so glad to be back on track with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Good pics are tough in the winter, folks.

A couple of easy finishes this week: two blocks for my Block Party Bee. Mary has January and she chose this super sweet fabric with little bunnies. She thoughtfully included a strip of paper for piecing in her packet.

Normally when I put together wonky strips of fabric, I just eyeball it and trim up later. Using the paper made the piecing so much faster and easier, but when it came to peeling the paper off, I thought it made the stitches a bit uneven. I might try it with a lighter paper in the future.

I'm counting this one as a finish too. I put together all the HSTs for my brother's quilt.

Fabric self-portrait

I know, I know...how many times will I say I finished those blocks...I'm holding off on piecing them into criss-crosses because I might want to try this new basting method if it works out on Mumu.

In progress this week: my spelling. I realized with embarrassment that I've been calling my current quilt-in-progress "Mumu" (which, according to Wikipedia, is, among other things, a Nigerian word for 'idiot'...cruel irony...), where I meant to say "Muumuu" (a colorful Polynesian dress). Well, too late to change it now.

I'm eager to get the backing of Mumu done so I can snuggle up with this beauty. I sewed a bunch of leftover scraps together, then cut them up lengthwise.

Wish I could just throw the scraps on a wall and sew 'em where they stick. They look so lovely in a heap.

I'm determined not to throw away any scraps larger than these. Every bit of this fabric is going into the quilt.

Luckily "mumu" also means 'intelligent person' in Mexican slang. I don't feel like I've fully solved the puzzle yet, but I'm trying to use this opportunity to take risks and be less controlling.

And since we're talking progress...I have been doing AWESOME at getting up at 6am every weekday (weekends were ambitious. It's pointless to get up in the dark with nothing to do.). I get to see the sunrise every day, and I really enjoy it. My whole day is better. It's amazing how shifting of a couple hours can slide a whole new lens over the day. I haven't been sewing every evening, however. I'm usually way too tired to focus. Stretching has fared better; it's fitting into my routine daily. Yay for change!

No Progress
Spring Sampler (I have totally lost steam on this one. Scrappy mojo is lost.)

I'm considering jumping on the Swoon bandwagon. I've long since purchased the pattern, but still yet to settle on a set of fabrics. The truth is, this block looks amazing in basically every color and tone combo...mmm, indecision!