WiP/FMC - Shiny

Happy Leap Year Day!

{As a total aside, I noticed I'm two followers short of 50. Hitting 50 followers on my favorite not-really-a-holiday would probably make me want to do a giveaway. Just saying.}

There wasn't a whole lot of sewing this week. There was a whole lot of running. Followed by a whole lot of icing. Not sugar icing, unfortunately.

{I'm the one in the red skirt. Which, those are from Team Sparkle. Which, there were a LOT of sparkle skirts and tutus out there. Purple is my friend Lori; pink is my sister, who's 30th birthday was the day after the race; and blue is my sister's friend.}

See where I'm touching my right leg in this picture at Mile 12? I discovered my IT band! By the finish line, I was limping. Now I have a freezer pack taped to my thigh.

 But I also have a big shiny medal.

And I'm delusional enough that I think it's going to be fun to do Disneyland's half this year, too.

Fifteen Minute Challenge - not Sew Starry! Sew Starry is done!

Instead, I worked on my mini-quilt challenge. Pieced the first six blocks into rows on Wednesday; worked on blocks 7-11 on Thursday, Friday, and Tuesday; tried my hand at embroidery on the plane on Saturday; ran a half-marathon on Sunday; and picked out my hand embroidery on Monday. {It sucked. A lot.}

Sew Starry - finished!

Quilt-Alongs: 
Fat Quarter Stars - 6/10 blocks - need more background fabric

{Road to Oklahoma - Star of Friendship - Clay's Choice}

LQS Saturday Sampler 2012 - 6/36 - my points are not the greatest on this set. Ugh.

LQS Saturday Sampler 2011 - 10/12 blocks

Quiltville Orca Bay {Skorca!} - okay, this is only two more blue blocks since Monday...

Swoon A Little, Swoon A Lot - no new block this week

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

St. Paul's Cross

Frolicking Pinwheels

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

Fall-gyle

Star Wall Hanging

At the Quilter's:

Big Blue

Adoption:
Application Submitted - 2/12 
Home Study - in progress 

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 1

In Progress: 16

Linked:

Work in Progress Wednesday

Life in Pieces' Fifteen Minute Challenge
 What A Hoot's BOMs Away!

Design Wall Monday - Skorca! in Assembly

Yes, assembly!

All the Ohio Star rows are together! And it looks awesomely insane. Insanely awesome?
I totally forgot about the backward hourglass in one of the stars. I'm going to fix it. Orderly chaos, people.

The border has been picked - a penguin fabric I had stashed, with a strip of iceberg blue. To separate the penguins from the Skorca. Of course.

Ten more blue pieces and a good day of red paper piecing left!

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times!

Sunday Stash Report - Week 9

Um, so there was a sale...

$2.99 a yard on all sale fabric.

I tried to limit myself to basics (those dots are 54" so even more bang for the buck)...or baby quilt stuff...or 3.25 yards of awesome candy cane binding.

And yes, over 5 yards of the 26 are Sandy Gervais. I don't want to talk about my addiction.

I finished Sew Starry, so I get to count the back and the binding out. That makes a dent in 26 yards. A teeny tiny dent.

Used this Week: 1.33

Used Year to Date: 19.74

Added this Week: 26

Added Year to Date: 63

Net Used for 2012: (43.26) yards

Check out more reports at Patchwork Times!

Fleece Friday - Yellow Bird

Last Angry Bird for a bit!

He's yellow and he's angry.

Obsessively Stitching tutorial, not as hard as I thought sewing the triangle would be.

Shake ya tailfeather!

And the group shot. 

The Dude asked for a slingshot for his birthday.

Someone help me.

Sew Starry - Finished!

My first bigger-than-a-wall-hanging (even though it's...a wall hanging) finish of 2012!

From the Made in Cherry Quilt-Along at Pins and Bobbins. Pattern by Sarah Fielke of The Last Piece.

There were four size options - I, of course, chose none of them. Mine is 40x40, made from 2" squares.

 The fabric is three colorations of Felicity's Stash by Makower, and two colors of unknown thread fabric. They match pretty well, so they could be from the same line, but I only had fat quarters without the proper selvage.

I decided to go orderly instead of random in my placement. If you decide to do this, use the coloring page here. I used a lot more reds, especially in the points.

{Obligatory Oklahoma Wind Shot}

I did the quilting myself - cross-hatching in the star, radiating lines in the corners, crossing lines in the triangles. It's very dense for me, and I very much like it. In fact, I keep staring at my husband's Steeler's quilt and imagining the quilting I could add. He thinks I'm staring at him.

The back is plain muslin, and I'm not showing a picture because I haven't buried my threads yet.

It will be hung on the wall in my sewing studio, which is almost set up to the point I'm ready to share the full thing. Almost. I need to vacuum first.

Linked:

Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop?

Finish It Up Friday

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday 

Sew and Tell at Amy Lou Who

WiP/FMC - Life in Progress with the Military

The first bit here is going to be a bit heavy, so just scroll down to the pictures if you don't want to read about life.

So... We're in the process of adopting from Korea.
{I know. I talk about it A LOT.}
But then my husband was put on a deployment list, and we put life on hold. Then he went on from the deployment list to the moving list, so we rushed to finish up the last bits of paperwork.

Then...
{I bet you know where this is going...}
Yeah. He's deploying.

I threw a bit of a hissy fit. We've put off the adoption process for five years, and this specific adoption for six months, because of the military holding us in limbo.

Cried. Prayed. Called our agency.

They rock.

The application is in, and the home study starts immediately, so that everything can be sent to Korea before he leaves.

And then the Dude and I have a lot to look forward to - Daddy and a brother/sister coming home in the winter/spring of 2013.

{And then we move.}

Anyway, on with the WiPs!

Fifteen Minute Challenge - still Sew Starry. Who would have thought cross-hatching would take so darn long? Anyone who only did it for fifteen minutes a day, probably.

I quilted it for fifteen minutes every day except Monday (road trip to Stillwater!)
I want to get it squared and bound today, so it's time to pick a new FMC!

I'm making my first mini-quilt for the Ellison Lane contest. It is not modern - built from log cabins and courthouse steps - but it's something I've wanted, so... I'm making it! Any guesses?

Quilt-Alongs:

Fat Quarter Stars - 6/10 blocks - skipped ahead to #9 because I'm out of background fabric. LOVE this one. So simple but so cute.

Plus, look how cute the bonus triangle from the flying geese is! It's going to make a great couple of pinwheels.

LQS Saturday Sampler 2012 - 3/36 (new blocks to work on)

LQS Saturday Sampler 2011 - 10/12 blocks

 

Quiltville Orca Bay {Skorca!} - lots of blue filling in... I'm so ready to start assembly!

Made in Cherry - see above

Swoon A Little, Swoon A Lot - the blue box? That's my Swoon fabrics... (Newest block to the side.)

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

St. Paul's Cross

Frolicking Pinwheels

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

Fall-gyle

Star Wall Hanging

At the Quilter's:

Big Blue

New Projects: 1

Completed Projects: 0

In Progress: 17

Linked:

Work in Progress Wednesday

Life in Pieces' Fifteen Minute Challenge

Design Wall Monday - Skorca!

I see a light at the end of the Skorca! tunnel!

Including the side that doesn't fit on the design wall, I have 24 more blue sections to piece. I'm about halfway through piecing the elements for that.

And then 22 red squares.

And then assembly!

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times!

And check out Jaybird Quilts' new Scrap Sunday!

Sunday Stash Report - Week 8

This is one of the last Objects of Desire layer cakes on the internet.

Happy Valentine's Day to me!

On the used side, there was a half yard in the bunting.

 

Used this Week: 0.5

Used Year to Date: 18.41

Added this Week: 3

Added Year to Date: 37

Net Used for 2012: (18.59) yards

Check out more reports at Patchwork Times!

Fleece Friday - Mustache Pig

Things I will not be putting on my resume: can sew pig snout straight.

Still from the tutorial at Obsessively Stitching. I photocopied it at 72% reduction (legal to letter setting) to get a slightly smaller pig.

 This guy is more the "right size" according to the Dude.

Because evil egg-stealing pigs are a certain size. Of course.

WiP/FMC - Stomach Bug (Redux)

I just...hate stomach bugs. That is all. I'm going to bleach my house and take a nap now.

Sew Starry is still my Fifteen Minute Challenge - poor thing! I thought I'd be done by now, but the quilting is taking longer than I thought.

{It's dark and dreary and rainy today. Sorry about the pictures.}

All the sides are done and I'm slowly cross-hatching the star. I quilted fifteen minutes every day except Saturday (Pinewood Derby) and Tuesday (stomach bug.)

 Big Blue is finished and off to the quilter's!

Quilt-Alongs: 

Fat Quarter Stars - 5/9 blocks - nada this week

LQS Saturday Sampler 2012 - 3/36 (new blocks to work on)

LQS Saturday Sampler 2011 - 10/12 blocks

Quiltville Orca Bay {Skorca!} - I've been posting this sucker for more than a month and none of you noticed the second block in the third row is wrong? ;)

Made in Cherry - see above

Swoon A Little, Swoon A Lot - trying to plan out the directional prints in this one

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

St. Paul's Cross

Frolicking Pinwheels

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

Fall-gyle

Star Wall Hanging

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 0

In Progress: 16

Linked:

Work in Progress Wednesday

Life in Pieces' Fifteen Minute Challenge

Valentine's Day Bunting

Happy Valentine's Day!
We had a snow day yesterday, so the Dude and I used the time to do some Valentine's crafts.

A couple of weeks ago, I got the leftover scraps from the kids' sewing class at my LQS - the polka dots from Deb Strain's Always & Forever. There was fusible web on the back, and I thought about peeling it off to salvage the fabrics.

But then this was on Moda Bake Shop. And peeling fusible web off is really, really hard.

My hearts are 4.5" and backed in muslin scraps, because that's what I had.

And my mantel is a little less boring.

Remember when there was colored Rice Krispies for holidays? I swear I'm not crazy... Anyway, I set out to recreate that.
Sprinkles are not effective.
I was smart enough to add them at the very last minute, but they still got messy and somewhat melty.
Still pretty festive, though!

I also pressed a heart into the Dude lunch sandwich with a cookie cutter, and I'm going to lunch with my husband. He has to work late, so the Dude will be my dinner date. I'm happy to get special time with both my boys!

Linked:

Fabric Tuesday
Tuesday at the Table {She's having a giveaway!}

Design Wall Monday - Skorca! (Yes, Still.)

SNOW DAY!

Which leads to design wall pictures like this.

He's having fun hunting out his favorite fabrics.

I did some paper piecing on Friday, so there's a good bit more red up there. It's starting to look close to finished!

But first, I have to go build a snowman. And make Valentines for school tomorrow. And eat the Rice Krispie treats we made. I love snow days!

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times!

Sunday Stash Report - Week 7

A couple great finishes this week!

First, Big Blue got finished - at least, the top did, and I don't have to think about it until it's back from the quilter's.

Since it was a commissioned quilt, I didn't count the fabric in until it was done. Which, had I known it would have taken me until 2012, I totally would have counted it back in 2011.

Of the 15.5 yards ordered, there's two yards left of the white floral for pillowcases, just enough of the dark blue for pillowcase trim, and no Kona. Plus I used 2/3rds of a yard of last week's Kona purchase.

I also got this month's Saturday Sampler blocks.

And we have a Pinewood Derby winner!
The design is his, as is the paint/sticker scheme. (I tried to tell him green and red/white/blue doesn't go, and got a "Mooooooom, this is MY car.")
At the weigh-in, he was exactly two quarters short of five ounces, so Mom bought him the win. :D

Go green!

Used this Week: 13.66

Used Year to Date: 17.91

Added this Week: 15.75

Added Year to Date: 34

Net Used for 2012: (16.09) yards

Check out more reports at Patchwork Times!

Fleece Friday - Green Bird

The Angry Bird obsession is leading to fights over the Fire. 

"Dude. Give me the Fire. I need to check on My Country." 

"But Mom, I'm close to three stars on this level!" 

"I am running a country! That is way more important!"

{Did I mention this is my husband's Fire?}

 From the tutorial at Obsessively Stitching. I think the beak is too low - I'm going to do some plastic surgery and reattach it higher. I'm also going to add a couple stitches in between the two beak pieces to hold it together.

I am apparently WRONG in making the top feathers green. Oops.

Linked:

Sew Darn Crafty

Big Blue - Now With Big Blue Borders!

It's a good thing the Giants won the Super Bowl, because otherwise I don't think I would have come up with such a great name for this quilt.

{Yes, my yard is dead. It's winter, but it refuses to snow for pretty pictures.}

Big Blue measures a whopping 105x115" and consists of ninety 10" Hunter's Star blocks.

My sister, who commissioned this, did not take my baby nephew out of his Giants onesie for the entirety of the playoffs. Team devotion starts at an early age!

I got the borders on in a marathon session yesterday.

Due to the weight, I took it nice and slow, one block at a time, while watching the best show ever. I don't know which I love more, Firefly or the Kindle Fire.

By the way, if you have your pin bin right in front of your drink, you're guaranteed to drop at least one pin in your Coke.

I dropped Big Blue at my quilter's today and it feels so good to have that out of the way!

Minus the binding. Ugh, I have to bind that sucker when it comes back. Double ugh - that's 450" of binding.

I should probably save a couple episodes of Firefly for that session.

Linked:

Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop?

Finish It Up Friday

One Thing, One Week Challenge

WiP/FMC - Big Blue

Seriously. 91x101", and I haven't even added the borders yet.

I'm dreading the borders - this sucker is HEAVY and pulls a lot at the machine. And all the pins are stabby (but so worth it for those perfect points. And I am not usually a pinner.) I'm very thankful this one is going to a professional for quilting.

Poor Sew Starry stayed as my Fifteen Minute Challenge quilt due to the time spent on Big Blue. 

I quilted one side section each on Wednesday-Friday, drew in the rest of the lines on Saturday, watched the Giants kick the Patriots' butts on Sunday (oh, is that not sewing related?), and continued quilting Monday-Tuesday.

I like the side pieces, but I'm not really sure how I want to quilt the inside of the star. I have a couple more fifteen minute sessions before I decide.

Quilt-Alongs: 

Fat Quarter Stars - 5/9 blocks - nada this week

LQS Saturday Sampler 2012 - 3/36 (caught up so far)

LQS Saturday Sampler 2011 - 10/12 blocks

Quiltville Orca Bay {Skorca!} - all the Ohio Stars are assembled. Filling in the blue as Big Blue's leaders and enders.

Made in Cherry - see above :)

Swoon A Little, Swoon A Lot - nada (did I mention how BIG Big Blue is? And how time consuming BIG is?)

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

St. Paul's Cross

Frolicking Pinwheels

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

Fall-gyle

Star Wall Hanging

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 0

In Progress: 16

Linked:

Work in Progress Wednesday

Life in Pieces' Fifteen Minute Challenge

Design Wall Monday - Skorca! & Hunter's Star

All the Ohio Stars are done, and I'm slowly filling in the blue.

I didn't get much done this weekend because we hosted a Super Bowl party - woo Big Blue! But now I'm avoiding all the pans that need to be washed and working on assembling the Hunter's Star and adding to Skorca!

Assembling long, long rows = super tedious. But it also means I'm almost done!

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times, and other Orca Bays at Quiltville!