Finished my June top for Le Petite Challenge

Just in time for me to head to the beach for the rest of the week.

:)

=^..^=

Ric Rac Triangles Cut Out

We were offered a choice between 2 different patterns for the June LePetite Challenge.

I have chosen to do the Schnibbles Ric Rac pattern.
It needs 294 triangles.  I cut them out last night.

Don't Faint...

I have actually finished a project two and a half weeks before it is due!     

This is my version of the Candy Bar Pinwheels quilt, the May pattern for the "Le Petite: A year of Small Projects".  This is a small quilt that I plan to use on my rectangular coffee table in the living room.  I started it on Mother's Day and finished sewing the binding on this afternoon. 

Usually I am up till the wee hours of the morning the night before in order to get my projects finished on time. So this feeling of being done early is rare and feels very nice.  And this isn't just a top finished in the nick of time, it is actually quilted and bound.  A true completed finish. Yay for finally overcoming my desire to procrastinate! (at least this one time anyway)

I used a charm pack from Connecting Threads called Abigail's Garden.  I don't usually buy charm packs, or any precuts for that matter, because when you add up the fabric that comes in pre-cuts and compare it to the price paid for yardage, you sometimes end up paying $12 to $15 a yard for pre-cuts while regular yardage is about $8 or $9.  With such a huge price difference, I figure I can do the cutting myself and I usually stick to buying yardage.  But when I was at the Connecting Threads website buying orange thread for a different project, I saw that they had a some charm packs on sale at a great price so I bought a few to try.  I admit they were easy to work with (the pattern called for 2.5 squares, which meant no waste of the 5 inch charm), and I enjoyed having a whole variety of different fabrics to work with. So perhaps when I find more charm packs at a price that brings them closer to yardage prices, I may end up adding a few charm packs to my stash.

=^..^=

My April Le Petite - Brocante

Here is my version of the Le Petite Challenge for April. I wanted something bright and cherry to drape over the couch for summer so I made my version slightly larger and more rectangular than the original. It measures 40 x 64

It took me forever to make my fabric choices for this quilt.  That was the whole delay in my starting, trying to decide which fabrics to use,  but I finally picked out a base fabric and was able to get a move on this project.  I started with the black Debbie Mumm fabric, which I have had for years.  I bought it on sale not sure what I was going to do with it, but for such a good price I figured I could eventually find something to do with it.  Now it is finally having its turn in the sun, literally.  Once I had that base fabric picked out, it was quick work to add  6 coordinating tone on tone solids to go with it and then I got to cutting.

I started sewing the top Saturday morning, did a few house chores in between, went into town to get some groceries for the week, and then stayed up super late to get it finished in time for the parade on May 1rst.  Which is now today....

I am so excited about how it turned out, that I wanted to blog about it right away. Now that its picture is up, I better hit the hay. Hopefully while I rest, I will dream of a good way to quilt this bright beauty.  :)

=^..^=

4 down 1 to Go

 I finished the quilting and the binding on my Sweet Spot quilt this afternoon.
The shadows strewn over the quilt are from the tree in my backyard. This little bit of shading sure has helped the actual quilting show up better than when I took its picture in full sun.

I only have one quilt left to quilt from my original 5 quilts that I basted on the 21rst of March.  Which is the Pink Zig Zag quilt, but that will have to wait till after I finish the quilt I am making for my Quilt Guild Challenge, which is due the first week in May.  The challenge theme for this year is "9 patch or 9 patch variation".  So I have decided to turn in a very traditional 9 patch and finish up the nine patch quilt I started with Amanda Jean's sew along back in April-July of 2009.  Wow, two years ago.  It really doesn't seem that long ago. Again I am glad for this blog to keep my dates in check.  I would have sworn it was only last summer that I put those 9 patches together into a top.   I don't have any current photos of the top as is, but all it needs now is a thin outer white border and some quilting.  I pan to add the white border later this evening and then I can baste it. Hopefully I can get started on the quilting in the next couple days, that is if my schedule can stay uninterrupted, but with 4 kids and lots of pets, you never know what will come up in the days to come.  :)

The four original basted quilts I completed, plus the two extra I made from start to finish in between, make 6 quilts completed in about a month.  I have to admit that I am impressed with myself for getting these done.   I am not usually that productive, but lately I have been putting all my tasks into my phone using a Task App that I downloaded. It keeps track of all my tasks and reminds me when they are due and when I get close to getting behind. When a task is complete I check it off and it goes off the list. It has really helped me manage my time better.  I enter in every thing that I have or want to do, whether it be work or play.  If I am working on one task and think of something else that needs to get done, I quickly add it to my phone with a completion date and get back to the task at hand.   I feel like I get so much more done in a day than I have in the past by using this simple little app.  I use to keep notes on paper, but they would get lost, or I just wouldn't read them, but since I carry my phone almost everywhere, I have a constant reminder of what needs to get done and when.  I love it. and my fabric stash loves it.  It is finally getting some lovin' other the usual caressing as I walk by.

=^..^=

Endless Summer Quilted

 I had planned to baste and quilt the Pinwheel baby quilt last night, but I didn't have any white cotton batting. I thought for sure I had a small package left, but I must have used it for something else because I couldn't find it anywhere.  I didn't even have enough scraps of white batting to get a piece big enough for the little baby quilt. 

But, while I was searching for the white batting, I did find some nice pieces of beige batting that fit perfect for my Endless Summer quilt top.  So I sewed those batting pieces together and then basted the layers of my Endless Summer quilt together.  I had an idea I wanted to use for the yellow triangle spaces, so I started the quilting right away last night and after doing some quick house chores this morning, I finished quilting the rest of the quilt.  Then while watching biographies on Hulu this afternoon, I hand stitched the binding down on the back.

I like the quilting I did all except in the sashing.  It didn't come out as smooth as I would have liked.  I thought I would be able to make nice smooth even curves if I used the points of the pinwheels and seams lines as base points for my arcs, but I got wobbly and some things got off center as I turned the quilt under the machine.  Unlike other freehand quilt designs, I feel like these wavy lines need more precision for a more smooth profession look.  I almost wanted to rip out all the sashing stitches and start over, but I refrained.  I suppose I will have to break down and actually mark my quilts from now on when I really want precision in certain areas of my quilting.

Free hand feathers are more forgiving when it comes to wobbly lines.  I really enjoy doing those.

 Now I have a nice spring time quilt to decorate the house with just in time to decorate for Easter.   Later on tonight when I go into town, I will pick up some white batting at Hobby Lobby with my 40%off coupon.  I love using my coupon on cotton batting.  After using cotton batting so often lately, it is painful to go back to polyester batting and that coupon really helps bring down the price of the cotton batting I have come to love.  I really like how the cotton sticks to the top and backing.  It really helps eliminate bunching on the back of the quilt when I machine quilt.

I still have those two other quilts I basted a couple weeks ago waiting to be quilted.  One of them fits in nice with my spring decoration too, so hopefully I can get it finished before too long and enjoy it  this spring season.

=^..^=

Endless Summer - Le Petite for March

Here is my finished top for the Le Petite Project challenge for March.
Finished late this evening, but just in time for April 1rst.  :)

The only problem with finishing things just in time for a deadline is that it ends up being very late at night and I end up being stuck with bad lighting which means my pictures don't turn out like I like.  Perhaps I can get a better picture tomorrow when the sun comes out.  Well, that is if the sun comes out.  It has been rainy all week but if the weather prediction is true for tomorrow, then there shall be some sunshine during parts of the day.  YAY!  I sure hope they are right. After a whole week of gray skies, I sure am missing the sun.

Le Petite Quilt Top Done For February

I  turned this pile of squares and triangles into...

My February Le Petite challenge Quilt top,  "Sweet Spot"

The top photo was taken outside in the shade

The bottom photo was taken inside.

Time to start thinking of how to quilt this little cutie.

Top Finished

I finished my Mon Ami quilt top this evening. 

Now I have to decide how to quilt it.

Mon Ami Blocks

I finished making the 25 blocks for my Mon Ami quilt.  I have 13 blocks with yellow stars, and 12 blocks with blue stars.  Next I need to put them together and add the borders, but I will have to wait till next week to do that, because I have two clients quilts that need quilting .  Once I get those other two quilts finished then I can go back to working on my Mon Ami quilt.

Starting my Mon Ami

Last night I made my first block for my Mon Ami Quilt.  I haven't made all the other blocks yet, but I have picked out the fabrics I want to use.

I went through my 2.5 inch fabric bin and pulled out 25 different blues and 25 different yellows to make all the blocks.  I was worried I wouldn't have enough yellows, but sure enough I did.  I had exactly enough.  The blues I had plenty of, I even had the option to pick which ones I wanted to go in the quilt and which ones I didn't.



I also cut enough white square to go with all the blue and yellow squares.  Later on this week I will mark all the white squares and sew all the half square triangles together.  I am very excited that I will have my very own blue and yellow quilt.


Blue and yellow together is one of my favorite color combinations. I have made quite a few quilts in this color combo, but I have given them all away.  One of my favorites was made in 2004.  I gave it to my brother for Christmas that year.  It was my first monkey wrench quilt.  A lot of the leftovers of that quilt will be going into this Mon Ami quilt.

Here is the monkey wrench quilt I made in 2004.
Funny how I thought I had a really good camera back then.  I thought all my pictures turned out really neat, but as I went back to find this photo, I realized that my camera back then didn't take pictures as well as the one I use today.  That makes me wonder how my pictures will look 6 more years from now.  I don't see how they can get better, but then again, I thought the same thing 6 years ago.

Prairie Point Christmas - Le Petite #3

Here is my version of Prairie Point Christmas for the Le Petite Small Projects.
I made a very mini version. It measures 9.5 x 15 inches.

I had a whole pile of Christmas fabrics already cut into 2 inch squares so I decided to go ahead and use those.

It turned out pretty cute, but it also turned out a little shorter and fatter than the original.

I think I spaced my prairie points too far apart on the first row and by the second row when I realized things weren't going according to the picture, I didn't feel like ripping it all out, so I have a short fat tree.

  Right now it is only spray basted because I am not sure how I want to quilt it.

I don't want to rush it and screw it up, so I will think on how to quilt it for awhile.

Butter Churn - La Petite Projects #2

Here is my version of Butter Churn for the La Petite - A Year of Small Projects Challenge.
Again this pattern called for charm packs, but I still don't own any more than I did last month. I just don't buy pre-cuts, so I used my scraps.  Some of the scraps came from two Christmas quilts I made years ago. You can see them here and here.

I did need some extra light colored fabrics though, so I cut a few 2.5 inch strips from some of the other holiday fabrics in my collection and that gave me enough to finish this top.
Now I just have to figure out how to quilt it.

La Petite - A year of Small Projects - #1

 The Paganini pattern was the first pattern posted for the La Petite, A year of Small Projects.  Last year was A Year of Schibbles and I really enjoyed looking at the parade of quilts posted in October and was wishing I found out about those projects sooner.   Now a new "year" of projects has started and this time I signed up to play. 

I wasn't excited about this pattern at first, it just didn't seem to jump out at me, and I would never have purchased it on my own, but since I wanted to play, I jumped right in and bought it anyway.  Then as I started making it, I really began to like it.  It is sort of like shopping for clothes.  You see something not too great on the rack, but decide to try it on anyway.  Once you get it on, you find out you look great in it, fall in love with it, and take it home.  That was the same for me and this pattern.

The pattern was designed to use charm packs, but I don't usually buy charm packs, I have only purchased one in my whole lifetime.  So I cut the squares out of my yardage.  But when I cut one 5 inch strip to get enough squares, I still had half the strip left. So I kept cutting squares and decided to make two quilts.  After all, there are four designs to play with in this pattern,  I made V3 first, and with the extra squares I will make V4.  

Since this project was for the month of October, I decided I needed another Halloween decoration. So I cut into my collection of Halloween fabrics and my oranges for this quilt and I love how it turned out. I Absolutely love it!!  I wish I could work on the second one right away, but alas, I have other quilts that have deadlines looming, so I will have to put the rest of the fabrics in their own project bin till next year when I have free time to work on my own quilts.

Enough squares for two quilts.

Triangles laid out on my makeshift design wall to make sure I sewed my HST correctly.

HST stacked in 4 rows of 4 to start block construction.

I added some close up photos of the quilting for Tarnyia. :)