WIP Wednesday

This week has been pretty productive.   Let me show you.

I have this top done and its ready to go to the long arm quilter.  The pattern is a download from Michael Miller and goes together very quickly.

Happy Baby quilt top

I also have got the binding done on my rectangle quilt and will be hand sewing that down in the next two days.
The snowball quilt is still waiting its border.  I'm dithering on whether to give it a scrappy border or a pattern print.  What ever option I choose I got to have it figured out by Thursday cause its going to the long arm quilter on Friday.

Snowball

 I also got this little McKenna Ryan pattern done, framed and ready to send to  my parents for a birthday present. Got to send that off on Friday as well.  I am getting the sense its going to be a full day.

McKenna Ryan

 I also got the binding on the Ferris Wheel done.  Arlene the long armer did a great job on it. I just love the ampersand and other marks quilted in the center of the Dresden's.  What I don't like is the ends of the dresden showing through the plate.  Next time remember to put in some batting or double the fabric to hide it, girl. 

I also started working on Tokyo Subway quilt from Oh Fransson and have four blocks done thus far. They look pretty good.  

Tokyo Subway

Not sure if I included this on my last WIP post, but i have  the top of the Animals in the zoo quilt done and ready to go off for quilting as well.  I predict that the end of March is going to be a busy month putting binding on quilts.

Happy Valentines Day

I hope that all of you have had a lovely Valentines Day thus far.  I started the day with a lovely gift of a necklace and matching earrings from my DH.  The DH has awesome taste when it comes to jewellery.  Its just too bad that work limits what or how much jewellery that I can wear!    I guess i will have to start wearing these pieces on my days off cleaning the bathrooms....

I also have made a stop at the fabric store during my lunch break and picked up some batting and navy solid to make a bind for my rectangle quilt.  So another quilt almost complete, definitely in the home stretch...

Happy Valentines to you all.  

The Week in Quilt Land

The past few days in quilt land have been busy despite doing a whirl wind of house cleaning, painting, taping and general sorting and filing.  I now belong to a UFO group on Flickr which has been really good for keeping me on track with working on old UFO projects.  While I haven't made a complete list of what needs to be done, I do have a little one made that gets a new project added to it as I finish off another one.  I also am on a kick to try to use up scraps as well ( which makes it very clear I have way too many).  If anyone knows a good scrappy pattern that is quick send it my way please. 

Tokyo Subway

 I also started making Tokyo Subway quilt as done by Elizabeth at Oh Fransson.  I think if I was to do it again I would not do it all in 2" square pieces but long strips instead. It would make it go quicker and be less fussy.  But I have four of 25 blocks done.   If I keep to my schedule of two a week I should be done by March ish. 

Honey I'm Home by McKenna Ryan

 I picked up four of these patterns by McKenna Ryan.  So far I have one made, the others traced out and ready to iron on fabric too.  I will get on these latter.  This one though will be popped in the mail to Dad for his birthday in a few weeks.

Happy Baby Quilt

 The pattern material is from Riley Blake made into this quilt pattern downloadable from Michael Miller.  The original pattern used a fabric called Happy Valley so I used part of the title for the name of my quilt.  I just love how this looks, all pretty and pink in green and pink.  I wonder what Arlene will do with it when it gets in her long arm machine.

Snowball

I also have this snowball pieced.  Only thing that remains is to add borders.  I can't decide whether to use a solid or a print found in one of the blocks.  I had originally planned to do a scrappy border using all the block material but it didn't look right.  So plan b or C or D. 

Solstice stars

For those of you who like stars, you may want to check out the Solstice Stars Quilt along at Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts.  I decided to join up to make something totally different and not a UFO project.  I also thought it was a good way to use up some stash and play with some different colors for me. 
I chose to use white, orange, yellow, lime green and shades of turquoise/aqua for these blocks.  So far I am really liking how they are looking.  It will be a great quilt.
Anyways I spent three hours yesterday night working on the last two blocks and getting them done and posted on Flickr. What do they look like you ask?

# 3

#4

 

 

 

 

I spy with my little eye

a cherry tree blooming.  Yeah.  Can you imagine?  I was out at lunch time, stopped at a light and turned my head and saw this pop of pink against a house.  And wouldn't you know it I saw a cherry tree beside a house blooming.  What a wonderful sign of spring and hope.  At least to me. 
Its getting pretty close to the time of year that we do the flower count here on the coast and I find that I can't wait for that explosion of color.
The other thing that I found while driving home this time, was a bit of humor.  Let me give you the wider picture.  All day, from 0715 until 1500 I saw a rush on folks who had experienced death or serious illness in their family and needed to get home.  After dealing with so much sadness I needed some humor to close the day.  Thank God for working in wild ways to give it to me. So I am driving home, behind this stinky older station wagon, who happens to have a little sticker on their car.  It says:  I used up all my sick days so I called in dead.  

Okay a bit morbid but it suited my day.  It also reminded me a something I found in Pintrest that  said: Old people at weddings always poke at me and say, "Your next." So I started saying the same thing to them at funerals.  
While I never would do this to someone, as a clergy person I have had the first bit happen to me so often. But the latter is so tempting to think about doing, if you had enough nerve to do that to someone. 
Have a lovely day with hopeful signs, color and humor.

This Weeks Projects

In the work room this week I have a few things that I have been up to and I wish to complete. With any luck and managing my time I should be able to get them done and in a state to send off to Arlene the long arm quilter.

Clothing covers

 I need about six more of these dust covers for some of the clothing in my closet. You know those items that you don't wear all the time but want to keep wear ready.  I found at Sew for Home website last week this dust cover pattern.  I find if I cut carefully I can use up some of my 1/2 meter cuts of cotton up. I have a stack of floral fabrics that are really pretty but just are not working with my quilting fabric preferences so this is a good way to use them up.  The photo above is a test cover made from a piece of remnant that I had under my sewing table.

Snowballs

These snowballs are again a way to use up some fabrics that I had bundled. I need to figure out if I need to get some different fabric for the border or if I have enough to make more of a scrappy border to go around.
I also need to decide what UFO project I want to put on my list for February.  Now that I got my bee block done for Feb for joy- do. good stitches I have some time to plan what I want to do for mine that comes up in April.  Guess I have some time to play!
So guess what I started?  The Tokyo Subway quilt by Elizabeth at Oh Fransson.  So far I have one block done and the second laid out and ready to stitch together.  I am hoping that if I can do one a night I should have it together in by the end of the month.  I also have to leave time to work on some UFO's too.  Not sure which one should be taking priority but I am hoping something in the work room will speak to me.  

paint

paint, a photo by basykes on Flickr.

Miles of trim and doors before I sleep

I spent some time of Friday taping off the laundry room and much of Saturday finishing off the trim work and doors.  It was a bit fiddly but this room is now done! Yeah.

Now I have another 16 doors left to do through out the whole house along with one more bedroom and a bathroom.  It might take me longer than I wish to complete these projects just doing it piecemeal but with all the other things that are on the to do list I don't want to have a whole bunch of half finished projects nor do I want to spend all my down time painting either.