Weekly Progress - Still on Vacation

I need a vacation from my vacation from my vacation! 

Last week was great, until I shared a water bottle with my two year old niece. You know, one of those germy creatures? Everyone but the Dude ended up with a nasty cold. I'm still recovering, but the vacation continues with DC this week!

We went to a botanical garden outside Charlotte - gorgeous! I have picture after picture of color inspiration.

The kids, of course, were most fascinated by a frog.

Fifteen Minute Challenge

  Still Big Blue's binding, but I'm on the last side! Which is good, because it needs to be done by Saturday... 

In-Progress:

Central Park Sudoku - okay, it still looks the same, but there's only one seam left on the inner sashing. Then outer, then border shopping!
 

Not mine, but I cut my sister's "Walk in the Woods" fat quarters for a Yellow Brick Road. So I think I should get credit for it. I was kind of hoping for more scraps, but this darn pattern is very efficient in cutting. Maybe there will be some scraps in the sewing process...

Quilted Enough So That I Could Baste Another Quilt:

Bad Romance & Fall-gyle - yup, that's seriously a category now. Lines go in one direction. Will finish when I get back home. Need more pins... 

Basted:

Layer Cake Quilt Along - man, some of these quilts have been backlogged for a while! This is going to take longer to quilt - I will probably just anchor it with stitch-in-the-ditch on the sashing for now. I want to do each block differently, and that will take some planning.

Swapping:

Picture-Perfect Polaroid Block Swap - a little cutesy, but I'm enjoying my Peter Rabbit fussy-cutting.

Joining:

Vintage Holiday Quilt Along - I decided to bust into my Fairy Frost collection for this. Sparkly Christmas ornaments! Even though I really don't need another Christmas quilt.

In-Progress-But-Not-This-Week

Fat Quarter Stars (6/12 blocks)

LQS Saturday Sampler 2012 (15/36 blocks)
 

In-Progress-But-Not-This-Summer

LQS Saturday Sampler 2011 (12/12 & center) 

Chunky Log Cabin (13/20 blocks)

St. Paul's Cross (2/42? blocks)

Adoption:

Application Submitted - 2/12 

Home Study - approved 5/12

USCIS paperwork - mailed 6/12
Home Study to Korea - 6/12
Referral Accepted - 6/12

New Projects: 1

Completed Projects: 0

In Progress: 12

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Top Finished!

It's done.

I do really like the border.

And I'm glad I went for cornerstones instead of the stars. It would have been a bit too busy, in my opinion.

I really wanted to set it on point, but the basket looked weird every way I turned it.

I used 6" borders, so it finished around 56x70".

And now it's getting folded up and put on the "needs backing" pile.

Work in Progress Wednesday - Week 8

I'm cheating - I'm posting after a quilting retreat day at my LQS. So I'm much further along now than I was this morning!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - done to the top and bottom borders, which are cut and ready to go. It's wrinkled because after cutting the borders, I realized I was late for school pick-up and shoved everything into a bag. Fabric can be ironed; kids can't wander around a school without parents. At least, not kindergartners.

Hunter's Star: around 40 blocks finished, and the new fabric is in so I can continue working on it. I'm aiming for 88x80" which is 110 blocks, so I have a long way to go.

Frolicking Pinwheels: all the sets of five are sewn together. On to slicing and dicing!

I've actually been working on the iSpy Sliced Coin Quilt as well - I made it to a city with a comic book store and picked up the inserts everyone has been blogging about to fold fabric. (Yes, it's amazing.) So as I've been folding, I've been slicing my novelty fabrics and the pile is growing.

Finished: Cow purse (no pictures until I figure out how exactly one takes good pictures of a purse.)

Untouched This Week:

Steelers Quilt

LQS Saturday Sampler

 

Awaiting Quilting: Bad Romance

In Planning:

Rudolph Quilt (the Dude)

Hunter's Star (my sister)

Non-quilting:

Second Snow White commissioned.

Knitting bag and pattern holder for my sister. Fabric is here!

This Week's Stats:

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 1
In Progress: 11

Check out more at Freshly Pieced!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Blocks Six, Eleven & Twelve

I'm finished/caught up on the Layer Cake Quilt Along. And... I don't think I like this kind of "sampler" quilt along. I just didn't like not knowing what I'd need in future blocks, like a stronger green for the flower bud. 

Overall, I think my quilt isn't very cohesive (versus, say a pinwheel sampler or a Civil War sampler.) 

All just personal preference, of course. Lots of the LCQAs in the Flickr group look great.

Anyway, my last three blocks.

Totally changed.

Changed layout slightly.

Totally unchanged.

I'm doing a simple cornerstone sashing instead of the stars, so I should be done with the top this week.

Design Wall Monday - Week 16

On the wall today, I'm trying to lay out my Layer Cake Quilt Along.

Looking at it now... I don't want two star blocks in the second row. I don't want the two "boxy" blocks on top of each other on the right side. I seem to have more blocks dominated by blue than I thought. And I chose a blue border? Eek!

Not to mention I still have to make the last block before I start sewing anything together.

Check out more design walls on Patchwork Times!

Sunday Stash Report - Week 16

This week was a bit of a haul, but it's all stuff for projects I'm actively working on, and some will go right back out this week. Right...

On the left, 5 half-yards of Mon Sheri for my Hunter's Star; one yard of Henry Glass Sewing Room Social for the knitting stuff my sister wants me to make.

On the right, 2.67 yards of Boutique to add to the Frolic pinwheels - this includes backing, though. Three-quarters of the neutral dots for sashing my Layer Cake Quilt Along; 1.75 yards of Happy Campers for LCQA borders.

Unpictured is 30" of black Kona for the Steelers quilt and a yard of pink Kona for the Hunter's Star.

There was a little bit of out in a purse that I don't have good pictures of yet. Stay tuned!

Used this Week: 2

Used Year to Date: 48.88

Added this Week: 10.5

Added Year to Date: 69.96

Net Used for 2011: (21.08) yards

Check out how everyone else is doing on Patchwork Times!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block Ten

Okay, I'm almost caught up now. I spent the last week making Block Ten, repairing Block Eight, and finishing Block Five.

I had 1.5 cake slices left of the blue, so I was able to do the background easily with only one little spot pieced (and even got the stripes in the right direction!) However, since we're so close to the end, I didn't have a strong green left, and I'm not terribly happy with the way it looks. It's not bad, but it could be better.

Also, I still have way too much black left, since black does not equal flower!

In no particular order, the nine blocks I have finished.

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Blocks Eight & Nine

Catching up...again... I was waiting for a scrap for Block Eight, and Block Nine provided me with the perfect one.

 As I flipped through the remaining layer cake slices, I realized, once again, I needed to use the black. It looks okay here - the stripes all go the right direction, which is nice - but I don't love it. I might take out a couple seams and try to get it squarer, then play with the layout again.

 Love this one, though. I planned on making it with the star points, but it ended up looking better this way. The star got lost against the bright red, whereas the square looks more focused.

Now I'm only two blocks behind, and those two are still just waiting on the right scraps.

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block Seven & Lighthouse Block

I know, I skipped a block. I'm not sure what I'm doing for Block Six - I don't really like the block. I'm trying to figure out something similar.

Like, say, Block Seven. I really liked the design. Didn't like the border.

I tried to figure out the ratio to enlarge the triangles (let's see, if the square is 2.75" and mine will be 3.5", that means it increased by...uh...) Then when I looked at the sketch of the block in 12.5", I realized it could be done in half square triangles.

Oh my goodness, love love love this one. Love. All the stripes even worked out. Love.

I also made this, which makes me quite proud.

No pattern, I just built Hatteras Lighthouse based on pictures. It's even slightly tapered - the base is 5.5" wide; the top is 4.5" wide.

It goes in my nephew's sailboat quilt, hence the waterline.

I'm entering both in the Block Party. Check it out, there's lots of cool blocks listed!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block Five

More catch-up on the Layer Cake Quilt Along...

This one I started to totally change, as seen above. I thought it looked a bit off in the instructions and decided to flip all the blocks around.

Then I checked out the Flikr group, and darn it all, everyone's block done the original way look better! I'm going to blame the digital picture - it just looked flat.

So I'm back to the original design. Don't tell Cara I messed with it. She hosts Talk Night Tuesday and I don't want her blocking me on Twitter. ;)

Oh, and yes, I know there's something missing in the block. I didn't want to cut into another layer cake piece, so I'm waiting on a scrap. I don't like the way any of my leftover 4.5" squares look so far, but I'm sure I'll have more options as the QA continues!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block Four

Catching up on the Layer Cake Quilt Along after the holidays...

 I didn't change a thing with this block, except using two green layer cake pieces instead of the accent fabric. I think I have plenty of pieces left still, and I haven't decided on an accent anyway!

I made a conscious effort to use a black piece, since I haven't touched those yet. Both of the corner pieces on the snowball are scraps.

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block Three

I didn't follow the instructions very well on the third block of the Layer Cake Quilt Along. I didn't like the thought of using three layers when two plus scraps worked just fine, and I preferred the background on the top corners of the handle.

Of course, immediately after finishing, I browsed the Flikr group and discovered that I really liked the way the block looked when using the same accent fabric on the top of the handle. And I have exactly the right amount left. So...

I'm still trying to decide.

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block Two

I'm not in love with this second block of the Layer Cake Quilt Along. But I guess that's part of the fun of a sampler quilt.

Also, I'm just sayin' - you might want to double check your layers when making HSTs.

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block One

I'm doing Moose on the Porch's Layer Cake Quilt Along in American Jane's Punctuation. And - I know I say this about all fabrics - I love it! 

Lots of letters and punctuation marks and a fun quilt-along - my favorite things.

The first block is an Alabama Spinner designed by Gene Black.

Someone didn't want to share the ironing board.