2013 Q4 Finish-a-long Roundup! (And other goodies.)

Yes, I am a last-minute Lucy! I did actually finish a few things, so I'd better link them up fast!!

Here were my goals:

1. & 2. Finish two twin size quilts for my boys. These are ready for binding and have an October 23 deadline, so this should be no problem. Done and Done!

3. Wonky star Mendocino Mermaid quilt for Ivy. Mostly cut out, just waiting on more background fabric. Done!

Yep, that is the worst quilt photo ever, the room isn't big enough to even get a shot of the whole thing. Moving on.

4. Field Study triangle quilt. Basically outright copying Blue Elephant Stitches' gorgeous quilt. Have it about half cut out... Yeah, still only half cut out :(

5. Remember that pirate quilt... Shiver me timbers, I think this one must be in Davey Jones's locker by now! (Er, not done.)

6. Those pirate pinwheels (and the extra 16 I made because of my sad math skills!) will become another small quilt, maybe for the boys, or to be donated. Sadly, not done either.

Sad to say, but that 50% ratio is pretty darned good for me these days! I am pleased to have the most important quilts done. The sewing machine has been pretty neglected as of late, what with power outages, winter storms, Christmas, etc. I have been keeping myself busy with other things, however:

That is just a small selection of the honey cowls that I have made recently! And a cardi for the girl...

And one for the boy...

Not to mention the replacement christmas stocking! (It's the green one.)

I'm linking up to Leanne's FAL Q4 page because...yay, I finished something!!

Hope you're all staying warm if you're in the arctic zone (aka most of North America)! Thanks for visiting ;)

 

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Minecraft, squared.

Yay, two finishes for the Q4 finish-a-long! (And I'm sure I'll get around to updating my Q1 FAL button any day now.)

These were totally inspired by this quilt, and other similar quilts that I found on Pinterest. My boys are both really into Minecraft, and while I'm not in love with video games, I realize that they are hard to avoid, and Minecraft seems to offer a lot of the positives of online game playing, and not so many of the negatives. And it is very sweet to see my boys tucked in every night with their minecraft quilts!

These were actually completed a couple of weeks ago (and I had them long armed, as I didn't really feel up to wrestling two 88"x72" quilts through my relatively small sewing machine), but I have really been struggling with taking photos in order to blog them - first having enough light, or a good indoor space to lay out a large project, and then being able to edit them. I find I am usually too lazy to fire up the laptop in order to use picmonkey these days, and I have been looking for a good iPad app that does the same things as picmonkey -- cropping, adjusting brightness/contrast/saturation, maybe some filters if I'm feeling artsy, border options, text overlay, and the ability to make a collage. I have been trying a bunch out, and so far PicsArt seems to offer most of these, but I'm open to other suggestions!

In search of the ultimate lazy blogger's platform, I'm going to be trying out Instagram - you can find me there with the username @chezroo. Click the little button if you want to be Instagram friends! (And I'm new there, so friends are very welcome!)

I spent yesterday doing a little wavy line quilting on this Sea and Stars (Mendocino Mermaids/wonky stars) quilt. Finishing this one will mean all my littles finally have their own mama-made quilt.

It has been so long since I linked up to anything, I may have forgotten how to do it, but I'm going to have a go: I'm linking up with Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, hosted this week by the lovely Audrey at Hot Pink Quilts, who is showing off her glorious Marie in all her Glory Tula Pink quilt - I won't mind if you run off right now to see it.

Thanks for visiting, I have been missing y'all!

 

 

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Dusting off the old blog!

If anyone is still subscribed to this blog, welcome back!

After a crazed whirlwind of a summer that involved packing the house, saying goodbye to our friends, and driving across the country with my mum and my two boys, we are finally beginning to feel settled into our new home, neighbourhood, city. I'm hoping to go through the pictures from the summer so I can post a few here soon.

My new sewing room is all unpacked, and there has been actual sewing going on! I finished two quilt tops for my boys, and, gasp!, sent them out to be long arm quilted. Oh, the luxury! The binding is all ready to go, and they will hopefully be revealed soon.

There are a few other projects on the go too, so I am linking up with Leanne's final Q4 Finish-Along at She Can Quilt. Hey, it got me back on the blog, maybe it will help me get a few things done before another year rolls by!

Here's my list:

1. & 2. Finish two twin size quilts for my boys. These are ready for binding and have an October 23 deadline, so this should be no problem.

3. Wonky star Mendocino Mermaid quilt for Ivy. Mostly cut out, just waiting on more background fabric.

 

4. Field Study triangle quilt. Basically outright copying Blue Elephant Stitches' gorgeous quilt. Have it about half cut out, just waiting for more background fabric. Here's a pic of my triangle sewing test - I referred to Katie's post at SewKatieDid.

 

5. Remember that pirate quilt...

...sorry for the horrid photo. This has been rethought, I just took the outside pinwheels off (good thing I never actually finished putting all the borders on, see procraftiniation really does pay off!), and this needs one more addition, and maybe some hand-quilting, and will be a wall hanging. To be honest, my partner took the seamripper to the pinwheels, he was so eager to see this one finally be finished!

6. Those pirate pinwheels (and the extra 16 I made because of my sad math skills!) will become another small quilt, maybe for the boys, or to be donated.

That should do it, don't you think?! There are other WIPs laying around, of course, but nothing that is likely to be finished before the new year.

Feels good to be back in the swing of things. Thanks for visiting!

 

 

 

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Babies

Babies. Aren't they awesome? The best of times, and sometimes the hardest of times, all wrapped up in one small bundle. My brother-in-law recently had his first baby, a little boy, so naturally a baby quilt was required. I had planned to make a rainbow quilt out of stash fabric, but then fell for a charm pack of Simply Color - rainbowliscious, but not too feminine.

Add some straight line quilting...

And some Ikea fabric for the backing...

This was my first HST quilt - have to say, love the look, hate all the trimming... Ugh!

I have a little something to show off from my own baby (although he's almost ten!). He saw this pattern in my copy of Mollie Makes, and decided to make them. He did them all by himself. Aren't they cute? Of course, every time I look at them I think, "isn't he cute!"

Love!

We are now in the midst of planning a cross-country move for our family this summer, so blogging will probably continue to be sporadic until things are more settled. I do have more to share, and I love that I have you to share it with, so thank you for visiting!

xo

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Still here, still crazy.

I have been, and still am to a degree, in the trenches. One of my littles is going through a tough time, and meeting his needs has been pretty all-consuming, so when I turned on my sewing machine this afternoon, it was for the first time in over a month. And that's okay, because my family will always take priority, and I never want to feel stressed out about sewing or blogging, as these are things that I want to do for fun (and to relieve stress!). So it is in that spirit that I'm linking up with the lovely Catherine at Knotted Cotton, to celebrate being a slow blogger. Like a suuuper slow blogger.

I do have some sewing things to share, whenever my next free moment comes up, but here's a tiny peek of what I'm working on right now -

Yep, that's right, I'm just started my Madrona Road challenge today. And yes, it's supposed to be done by Monday. Thank goodness I wasn't planning to make a whole quilt!

Wish me luck!

As always, thanks for visiting :)

 

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Under a pile

This is what my sewing space/life looks like this week ... a bit of a mess. My littlest has been sick since saturday, so not much sleep happening around here. The table is piled with Madrona Road fabrics for MQG challenge, pattern pieces for the dining chair slipcovers still being drafted (does it seem like the simplest things take the longest??), and my ever-growing boxes of EPP for T-Hex (last seen here). Recently the thought of a velveteen backing for this crossed my mind, and spurred me on! I still don't think I have enough hexies basted to finish it, but I definitely have enough to make lots of progress.

As far as the FAL list goes, why is it that the "official" items suddenly become less interesting than the unofficial ones as soon as I make a list?!

Official list:
1. Pirate quilt - no progress
2. Madrona Road - pattern drawn (a foundation pattern based on the Single Girl, a la Red Poppy Quilts), now I'm having second thoughts
3. Princess and the Pea mini quilt - no progress
4. Japanese X and Plus blocks -  no progress

Unofficial list:
1. Dining chair slip covers - still drawing pattern
2. VMQG nametag - finished! (pic to come), but my husband had to work late so I didn't get to go the meeting :(
3. Baby quilt for upcoming niece/nephew - no progress
4. Appliqued baby onesies - no progress. Okay, these have been sitting on my desk for ages, and could it be any easier to sew a tiny applique on?

Not a very productive week, but I have been getting to spend lots of quality time with my baby girl <3

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Thanks for visiting!

Little finishes...

Just to prove that I have done a little sewing...

A, well, bagload of bags ... these are project bags from Jeni's Drawstring Bag pattern. I had plans to make some of these for Christmas present wrapping, but that didn't happen. I'm still hoping to get that done before next Christmas! I did however get these knitting project bags made for a group of friends who are all knitters. They were belated Xmas gifts that I gave when we all met up last week, fortunately they were all appreciated!

I also made a medium sized Open Wide pouch for a friend's birthday last week. She had admired the viewfinder bag that I made for a school auction a couple of years ago, but lost out on the bidding. I still have a fair bit of this fabric left, and thought she would appreciate it.

Did I touch any of my FAL projects this week? Nope. I did make a little progress on a couple of non-official projects (of course).

Linking up with Plum & June's Let's Get Acquainted link up, being hosted this week by Heidi at Fabric Mutt. If you don't know Heidi or her blog, you're missing out. She has the loveliest projects, and is one of the sweetest people on the internet. Seriously!

Thanks for visiting, as always :)