Fractured Four Patch - Finished!

Just checking them off the list now! Look at me go!

This is Fractured Four Patch, a baby quilt for my sister...to give to a friend.

It was an experiment based on this block by What Comes Next. I used 9" (unfinished) starter blocks - cutting four pieces/two blocks from a quarter yard cut - for a 15" (finished) final block.

I debated using several different cuts, or just one each of the lavender/yellow. 

In retrospect...with the bigger blocks, probably should have gone with one each. If there were more, smaller blocks, the lightest lavender wouldn't stand out so much. (See: top right corner.)

And, it would have been pretty cool in two colors with all the twists and turns blending into each other. Mine are nice, but they are distinct blocks.

Also, if you make this as a full quilt, you should mark your ruler with the seams to line up. I trimmed willy-nilly figuring it would all match up in the end. It did...mostly...but it could have been done perfectly had I spent a little time with some tape.

I don't know if anyone can see it {I can, but I know which way to squint!} but I love the way the quilting looks on the back. It's just a double outline on the front, but it makes a cool pattern on the back.

The binding is straight-up perfection. As soon as my sister said "lavender and yellow" I knew that the binding would be. This stripe (Summerhouse Collection by Andover) has been in my stash forever - or at least, three years. And yet I still packed it off to the storage unit before the quilt was done.

I also made a ribbon blankie from the scraps.

45x60"

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ Quilt Matters

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts

Finish-A-Long @ She Can Quilt {FAL List}
Let's Make Baby Quilts @ Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Weekly Progress - Moving Along

Finally, things are slowing down on the house, so I have some spare time to make some quilt deadlines! We are doing the last clean sweep this week, making sure all the paint is touched up, and possibly listing it by the weekend if our realtor thinks we're ready! Whew. That was a loooooooooong six weeks.

Finished!

Fireman T-Shirt Quilt

Almost finished!

Fractured Four Patch - just tying off the quilting threads from the middle sections. Why, oh why, did I do double lines?

Quilting!

Rainbow Sherbet - we're going to a wedding this weekend, so I'll get to hand this off to my MIL in person! {Woohoo, no shipping costs!}

Piecing

Raiders T-Shirt Quilt - yup, another one. This one won't fit my "standard" design, which is a little more fun but a little more work.

Design Wall

Haha, of course it hasn't changed. Depending on how I do on the deadline stuff, I'm going to try to fit in a Boardwalk/Cat Tails morning sometime this week.

Cutting

I cut all my green RSC blocks! Wait, that was April's color? And it's May now? And May is blue? And my blue scrap bin is...oh, whew, she knew that. Sorting it into three piles - I can do that!

Linked:
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times
BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy
Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

End of Month Report - April

This will also suffice as my weekly report, since I haven't done much worth reporting. Ah, the joys of prepping a house to sell.

Family: the black cat started an extensive chemo program at OSU, and is responding really well to it. Every minute of cuddles is worth my entire fabric budget.

The Dude was Star Student this week. I think his brainwashing is complete.

And after a yard sale this coming weekend, I think the house will be ready to go on the market. Deep sigh.

Adoption: our agency's first cases of the year go to court soon, so we should have a better idea of the timeline soon. Meanwhile, our I-864 got lost, so I'm copying tax returns...again.

Running: another month, another half!

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon - 2:33 and a PR for Lori! We did shots of vodka at mile 6.4...which was about 8 am. Obviously we take running seriously.

I made the sparkle skirts, mostly because Team Sparkle doesn't have a rainbow one. They were...less than perfect. The rainbow "fabric" has zero stretch to it, unlike the colors. If I had to do it again, I'd make casing - it's just as easy as zig-zagging the elastic to the fabric.

Other sewing:

I finished piecing the top of the fireman t-shirt quilt, and it's about 75% quilted. Should be done by the end of the week...which is not quite by the end of April, but pretty close.

All of the quilting is done on the Fractured Four Patch, and the binding is prepped, but it's in the queue behind the t-shirt quilt, so it waits.

I also said I would finish Boardwalk, Cat Tails, and Saturday Sampler - all of which were hardly touched in April. {Boardwalk had brief moments as leader/enders.} I seriously underestimated the amount of work the house would take. {Go ahead and laugh.}

Sadly, didn't even cut any green for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge. And I only did a NewFO if you count the fireman quilt...technically it was started in April!

Goals for May:
1. Quilt Rainbow Sherbet - and delivering it to my MIL at a wedding...Mother's Day weekend...

2. Finish the fireman quilt and Fractured Four Patch.

3. Start/finish another running t-shirt quilt. {Momma's gotta pay for chemo!}

4. Finish one of the above mentioned tops. {Boardwalk, Cat Tails, Saturday Sampler...one of them...any of them!}

Linked:

Nothing But UFOs
A Year of Finishes
Getting It Done
Year of the Finished Project
Just Three

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts
NewFO Challenge @ Cat Patches 
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Weekly Progress - Catching Up

I skipped a week, for a variety of reasons. There didn't seem much of a point last week to mention that all I managed to sew some sashing on a t-shirt quilt. 

And then Boston happened... Which, considering I had an eight year old at the finish line of my last race...

And then Thursday night/Friday morning, a cop was seriously injured by the bombers. He graduated with my husband, from a small, close-knit military college.

So if you feel inclined, this is the donation page run by their class agents.

Life has been dominated by the packing, but we've finally turned the corner on that - the storage unit is stuffed and most of the rooms are ready for cleaning and painting. Finally.

{Someone has a Yoda-ish opinion on packing.}

The little sewing time I managed to sneak in was dedicated to two projects.

Quilting my sister's quilt.

Which meant the cat had to be a jerk.

It's finished to the binding, which had to be dug out of the storage unit. Plan ahead, I do not! But it should be done this week.

And putting together the fireman t-shirt quilt, which is down to the borders and should be finished next week.

The design wall still hasn't changed, because Boardwalk isn't a priority until the above projects are finished. Look at me, I'm being a responsible adult!

Wedge is doing really well on his cancer treatments. He's lost a good bit of weight, so now poor Tycho is both the fat and annoying cat.

And now I have to get back to shredding....

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

   

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

   

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Weekly Progress - Moving Along

What is it about the end of the month that makes me somewhat productive?

Oh, right, the accountability of linky parties. I don't want to disappoint the people on the internet, after all! ;)

So this week, my design wall finally changed!

Woo! Four Boardwalk blocks, finally done! I also cut the sashing strips. Now to finish off the last ten blocks!

Just a peek at the Twisted Four Patch - it's basted and being quilted right now...in between box packing.

Flirt strips sets are becoming blocks, in such an organized fashion.

For the Fifteen Minute Challenge, I sorted the yellow box, which also contains my paltry selection of orange {for the RSC.} I cut the RSC for yellow, too, while I was in there, and some blocks for a rainbow chevron quilt. Now that box can go into storage...sigh. Bye-bye, fabric!

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

  

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

  

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

End of Month Report - March

Oh, March. You were...a month.

Family: my black cat has cancer. And my baby turned eight! 

And I'm starting to panic about our pending move. Quilters who have sold their homes - what did you do while the house was on the market? Keep just a few piecing projects around? Quilt through a pile of tops? I'm losing my sewing room {will get to keep a table in the office} and definitely losing my cutting table. 

And obviously I have to keep things picked up, so my sewing table can't look like it looks now!

Adoption: as far as we know, the time in country is back to normal, which is a huge sigh of relief. There was a possibility we'd have to spend 2-4+ weeks there, which is a bit harder with an older kid who should really not miss that much school. Now it's back to the week. Hopefully.

Running: two half marathons down! And I am officially a Half Fanatic. My times weren't quite where I wanted them {even though one was a PR.} But hey - I've got two more before the end of May to get the time I want.

Sewing: in March, I planned to...

Keep up with Cat Tails - I'm a couple blocks behind due to Spring Break, but I'll catch up in April.

Quilt Star Wall Hanging, Frolicking Pinwheels, and Skorca. Haha, no. I didn't quilt anything in March.

Make a new Creeper pillow. The Dude changed his mind and it's a Zombie pillow.


Make seven out of fourteen Boardwalk blocks. I made four. BUT - I have an excuse. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how I cut five blocks out of one pink fat quarter. I need five from the remaining teals, so I need to figure that out first! {Or buy additional fabric.}

 Also worked on...

{Some day I'll be a nine patch just like the big kids!}
Turning Flirt strip sets into blocks.

{RSC} orange - not something I have a lot of, but I've got all the blocks cut and ready as leaders/enders.

{NewFO} I should have done one from my list, but my sister ordered a baby quilt for a friend, so I'm counting that and not unrolling a jelly roll... It's basted and on it's way to being done this week. 

 So, plans for next month...

1. Get the house ready to go on the market. Wait, that's not very glamorous. Or sewing-related...other than the complete removal of my sewing stuff.

2. Finish the Cat Tails top and the Saturday Sampler top - which really means, get down to the store for more black!

3. My commissioned project for the month, a fireman t-shirt quilt.

4. Boardwalk...get those last blocks done!

Linked:

Nothing But UFOs
A Year of Finishes
Getting It Done
Year of the Finished Project
Just Three

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts
NewFO Challenge @ Cat Patches 
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy 

Weekly Progress - Bad News/Good News

Bad News: my sweet baby kitty has lymphoma. Not the white one who lives in the quilt room, but the black one who prefers the sunny spots. I got him almost twelve years ago as an eight-week-old kitten, so this is...hard.

Good News: he's responding well to steroids and chemo for now. It's palliative care, but I'm happy that he's comfortable. And he's certainly loving the extra cuddles.

Bad News: my calf is pretty sore...

Good News: ...because I did this...again.

Bad News: I got almost no sewing done in the last two weeks...

Good News: ...mostly because I was prepping for and then going on a cruise. {Or cuddling with the cat.} 

Oh, and you should always do a half marathon before a cruise. Then when your judge-y husband is questioning how many ice creams you've had that day, you can be all "I just ran a half marathon!" Even if it's Thursday.

It was very hard to leave my Wedge at the vet for a week, but she wanted to observe him for a few days into the treatment anyway, so it worked out okay. And by okay, I mean, I nearly started crying into my third glass of wine at the fancy steakhouse on board. But okay.

Anyway, I did get some sewing done.

{Finished} the Dude's birthday present, a Minecraft Zombie pillow. He sleeps with it every night, and it is affectionately known as "Zombs." Yeah. He's weird.

Pieced all the strips for Flirt Marks the Spot, and started pulling the strips into blocks. {And that color is not at all accurate. New sewing room = bad lighting.}

{Design Wall} ...sigh... I should just stop posting. Haven't finished any new blocks, therefore the Wall is not changing. Going to make Boardwalk a priority this week.

Color pull for a Disappearing Four Patch with a Twist quilt for my sister. I need three more yellows...

{Fifteen Minute Challenge/Rainbow Scrap Challenge}
...so I pulled my yellow/orange scrap box to see what I could come up with. I'm massively behind on orange for my RSC, so it was about time I got sorting this box in my fifteen minutes.

...oh, and I got a commission for a rainbow chevron quilt {ala Red Pepper Quilts} so I'll be pulling for that, too.

Last week during my fifteen minutes, I worked on organizing some of the random projects in my old sewing space, and learned two things.

a} I have too many UFOs/PIGs. Some of those are stalled projects...some have never started. At least they're labeled now?
b} I may have too many shoes.

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

 

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

 

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story