Cutting, Cutting and More Cutting....

I am so excited because Craftapalooza is only FIVE days away!  My best and oldest friend, Milli, is coming from Denver with her sister Mary and friend Dawn.  They will be here for a week full of crafting (mostly quilting and fused glass), chick flicks, great food (& drinks!) and fun girl times.  Several of my local friends and my mom will also join us throughout the week.  Craftapalooza is my favorite week of the year!!

In preparation, I have been pulling fabric from my stash and cutting like a mad woman.  Today I am cutting squares for the Scrap Jar Stars quilt.  We will each be making our own version of this one.  I chose red, teal, aqua and gray and am debating about a background.  I bought a solid gray but I think it may not be enough contrast from some of the grays I pulled, so I may end up using a white or off-white for my background.  Here is a pic of the cutting in progress.

I am also continuing to work on the fish quilt for my dad.  I am sewing the completed blocks together and then will decide if it is big enough.  I still have fabric left, so I could make more blocks....not sure why I have been so indecisive with this quilt!  No matter how big it ends up, it is going to look great and be perfect for my dad.

It is cool and rainy today and football is on.  My favorite kind of day for quilting!

Prepping

Not a lot of quilting going on lately, but that's about to change.  I will be spending the next few weeks collecting fabric and cutting for some new projects because October 19th is the start of Craftapalooza!  Twice a year my crafty friends and I get together for a week and craft our guts out.  There are two rules of Craftapalooza: 1) no boys and 2) no kids!  We spend the week quilting, sewing, fusing glass, knitting and crocheting.  The week is also filled with 80's music and movies, chick flicks, yummy food and awesome together time.  These are friends from college 20 years ago and it gives us a great opportunity to catch up with each other, relax and leave our stress behind and have giggly girl time.  Craftapalooza is my favorite time of year!

We always pick a quilt pattern that we will all make and this year we have chosen Scrap Jar Stars from the A Little Bit Biased blog.  I am also planning to make the Starry-Eyed Quilt from Moda Bake Shop (I seem to have a star theme going!)

So, I have a lot of cutting in my future.  I will keep you posted on my progress!

Baby Quilt Done!

I successfully quilted the polka-dot baby quilt on the long arm.  Originally, I thought I would have to anchor the circles using my sewing machine first, but I 'floated' the top over the front bar instead of rolling it on and the glue was enough to keep the circles where then were supposed to be.  I did a loopy meander in the background and circles on the polka dots.  This is what it looked like before I washed it.

After sewing on the binding and a trip through the washer and dryer, the polka dots are definitely getting raggedy.  I think a few more washes will help make the circles lay flatter.

And here is the whole quilt.

It turned out better than I expected.  After I had the background pieced I thought the plaids and stripes would be too much but now that it's done I love it!

This is a sample to show my friend what I was thinking when she asked if I could do a polka dot quilt for her daughter.  If she likes it, I will make another one (she needs twin size and this one is only about 48"x48") in her choice of colors.  Then, I think this one will go to my niece.

Work In Progress

I am still working on a baby quilt from my own pattern.  I am not sure that I picked the right fabric for this quilt but it will be a good test of my idea.  I finished assembling the top and glued the polka dots on.

My next step is to sew the circles onto the quilt top.  The idea is that they will be raw-edge applique and after the quilt is washed the polka dots will have raggedy edges.

I also had a plastic bin of scraps that I started cutting into standard sizes.  I use a modified version of Bonnie Hunter's scrap users system.  My method is that I throw all scraps into a plastic bin while I am working on projects and when it gets too full I dedicate some time to cutting.  I Iron all of the scraps and then cut everything into 2" and 2 1/2" inch strips.  Anything smaller than that goes into my string bin.  I will occasionally save an additional size if I have an idea or a planned quilt that needs something different than 2" and 2 1/2" pieces.  Right now I want to make a twister quilt and it needs 3 1/2" squares so while I am cutting scraps I am making those, too.  If I cut a little bit each night after work, I should have my scrap bin empty by the end of the week. 

Friday Sew Day

Since I only had to work a half day on Friday, my friend Tara and I got together in the afternoon for a sew day.  I started a new quilt, while she worked on a quilt for her niece. we worked away and I only stopped to make dinner and fix drinks.  :-)  Next thing we knew, it was 11pm!

For my project, I have a friend whose daughter wants a 'polka dot blanket'.  She asked me if that was something I could do.  Searching for polka dot fabric didn't sound appealing to me and I had an idea for a raw-edge applique quilt.  I am not sure if she will like what I have in mind so I decided to make a small version (baby quilt) to show her and she can decide if she wants me to make a bigger one for her.

The background will be simple squares; I got them all cut and sewn into 9 blocks.  They are on my design wall now:

Just a few more seams to sew and it will be a complete top.  Next I had to cut out the circles.  I raided my kitchen cupboards to find things that I could trace to make circles in the sizes I wanted.  The items that made the cut were a ramekin, a pasta jar lid, the cap to a plastic bottle (both from the recycle bin) and a K-cup from my Keurig.  I traced a ton of circles and started cutting.  Here they are all cut out:

I need to dig out a glue stick.  That is the only thing I can think of that I can use to attach the circles to the quilt top and keep them where I want them before they are sewn down.

While I was cutting circles,  I heard a strange 'whooshing' noise coming from outside.  I stepped out on the deck and this is what I saw:

They must have launched only a few blocks away, and what I heard was the burner they were firing to get up in the air.  Very cool!

It's a Flimsy!

Olymics on TV have given me tons of quilting time this week.  I have been sewing while watching and got the  granny square quilt top together.  I still need to add an outer border, since the blocks are all bias-edged, but I couldn't wait to take a pic because I love it!

I followed the Great Granny Along tutorial from the Bee in my Bonnet blog for the blocks, then did my own thing when I put them all together.  It measures 52 1/2" by 66" without borders.  The fabric is from the Twiggy line with a Kona solid for background.

Granny Squares

I have been fighting a sinus/ear infection for at least a week and it has officially won the battle.  Will be visiting urgent care today to get some antibiotics.  Even though I have not been feeling 100%, that has not stopped me from quilting!  I have seen the granny squares movement across blog-land and have had them on my wish list for a while.  Then I saw the Great Granny Along on the Bee in my Bonnet blog and knew those were the granny squares I wanted to make.  I dug out a layer cake of Twiggy fabric and ordered a cream Kona solid (I think it is champagne) and started working.

Here they are before squaring up (and I still need to add rectangles to each of the corners).  My plan is to make 20 of them.  Since the blocks will have biased edges I will not cut them into squares until I am ready to  sew the top together.  I think I am going to love this quilt!

I also made a cute little wall hanging for a friend who is moving into a new house this fall.

I made this using 3.5" squares and a pinwheel template.  It is small, about 12" x 18"  but it will be really cute once it is quilted and bound with a hanging sleeve.

Hopefully I will be feeling better by the weekend and can finish the blocks for the granny square quilt.  I also need to finish putting the top together for my niece, Sophia.  I have a couple rows left before that one is ready to put on the long arm.