WIP Wednesday 10/19/2011 (a skills WIP)

Instead of doing a run down of all my WIPs this week, I’m taking a look at my one little project.

This scrappy Halloween mug rug.

First of all, I can see now why people love mug rugs. 

These things really are fun to make!!

 

rawrr....crappy cell phone photo :/

 I made this little guy with scraps from the Hexi-Web project, and I already have a second one in the works.

The fact that I can brush up on my binding and quilting skills is not a bad thing either.  In fact that is the inspiration for this week’s spin on WIPS – My skills are always a work in progress!

Let’s take a look at how my techniques have progressed this week:

What I made progress on:

Quilting- eyeballed it and made the web off center

Binding on back- Hand sewn! This is the first time I’ve done binding by hand, I usually go for the quicker machine techniques. From start to finish I definitely got a lot more consistent and small stitches, yay! I don’t know if I’m quite ready to do this on a large project, but I am certainly more open to it before.

Mitered corners on front- used this technique from Crazy Mom Quilts.

Need to work on:

Quilting- Had some evil bunching issues, time to dig that walking foot out?

Mitering corners on the back- No 2 look the same, and none are particularly good. 

Anyone have any tricks for this?

Basic math- Measure twice cut once, especially on binding. See the orange and green bits of the binding? Ya. Lesson Learned.

I think a lot of times we get wrapped up in how many projects we can juggle and how many ‘finishes’ we can reach. It’s important (for me at least) but put that tally down once in a while and embrace the process. I really feel like I did that one this small project. The best part, is that seeing those little success in advances in my skills motivates me to keep sewing more than any deadline can.

Watch out! I’m on a roll!

Hexiwebs (an almost wordless update)

Saw this hexing around the bock tutorial @ freshly pieced.

Had these fabrics pulled.

You see where I am going with this, ya?

So, I got piecing.

And I totally DID NOT got distracted by my own sparkly green nail polish and/or tv.

Some more time passed.

 


Now I have these 4 hexi-web blocks, for a wall hanging.

That one block is bugging the bajeezus out of me. What happened to the bottom of that web?

Plan B.  blocks for vertical wall hanging/tablerunner...

Oh...... and I have this thing floating around too.



must. finish. before. Halloween.

Jingle bells in October

I can't get the song jingle bells out of my head.  I know! It's October for goodness sake!

 But you see, it's craft related, so it's okay.

(As if that deters from the possibility of my looniness, ha.)

I've been putting more thought into the design for my secret partner's tablerunner...

...and the goal is to keep it modern & bright..  Cue the voices in my head-

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring

Making spirits bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

It's a perfecty logical, non-crazy-quilt-lady connection, see?

Now before you think I have competely forgotten Autumn in my search for the perfect table runner, let me show you some of stuff I've done to get into Halloween mood around here.

May I present to you, my autumn shadow boxes:

 The printable in the frame is from pinterest.

 It's not something Better Homes and Gardens will be busting down my door to get at, but it does the trick.

...in a 'I-cant-put-holes-in-the-apartment-walls-if-I-want my-security-deposit-back'
kind of way. 

wink 

Oh! and I can't forgot these guys!




A little food coloring and some spraypaint later,
I have a Severus Snape worthy potions collection.

I'm particularly fond of my "verituserum"
(which is truth serum for those of you not versed in Harry Potter lore).

 In case you are wondering the Pheonix Tears and Swamp Water labels are from here,
the Acromantula venom from here and last but not least, the Veritaserum is from here.


Moving on (or back?) to Christmas...

I really like the lights from my original tablerunner design. But, thanks to the wonderful feedback from ya'all and the Flickr group, I think they may be a tad more 'holiday' than my partner may care for....

so I've gone from this-



To this-

 AND

I've pulled and purchased this combination of fabric to get the job done..

Not final, pending feedback from partner, but they read as Christmas bright to me!
Anything stick out like a sore thumb? Any you'd want to see lots of?

 Oh and I liked those little lights too much to forego them all together,
so I designed a pillow that they could go on (on my couch *evil grin*).


Sorry for the long post, but believe it or not,
that's only part of what I've been up to!
I'll be back tomorrow with some progress on my quilt along projects.

Till, then....


(humming jingle bells softly as she closes her laptop)

WIP Wednesday 10/05/11

I skipped the last 2 WIPs (I was in the midst of an apartment cleaning,

 job searching and wiping boogery noses (my own and that of a 6 month old)).  

Stupid life getting all up in the way of my blogging, sheesh. 

Moving on, here is what I've been up to this week (and the 2 before it):

Finished Projects

1. It's not technically a project, but I didn't get to take a proper photo or thank Kati from the Blue Chair while I was in my sudafed haze.

So here is a belated but heartfelt THANK YOU to Kati! She did an a-maze-ing job of organizing the color wheel charm swap this summer! I received my envelope, did a happy dance and immediately started playing with them on the floor. 

Rainbow therapy. It works wonders :)

New Projects

My first swap was such a warm fuzzy success that I signed up for 2 swaps this week.

1. The first is the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap 2011 being hosted by Susan.

 

That's my inspiration mosaic (as posted on flickr). 

We find out who are partners are tomorrow or Friday, ahhh!!

2. The second is the Moody Blues Bee. It is a virtual bee with 12 quilters, spread over 6 months. Each month 2 member sends out fabric to the other 11 quilters along with information on what type of block to make. Those 11 quilters complete the block and return it by the end of the month. The theme this go around is scrap busting. It doesn't start until January 1, so I have plenty of time to get some other WIPs done before it starts.

3. Stockings for Kids - Okay. I have a confession. I can't resist sewing for a good cause. I've done Quilts for Kids, and recently made these 4 blocks for Sarah's endeavor, Quilting for Kids.

Lyanna is gathering volunteers to make a stockings for foster children to give them something they can call their own this holiday season. How sweet is that?  I'm jumping on board, are you?

You can read the story here.

Progress

1. Dead Simple QAL - Remember this pile of fabrics?

Well, as you may know, I picked a palette and after much deliberation, I have a game plan! 

2. Across the Sea QAL - I hit a major productive road block on this one.  I had a pile of blocks just waiting for their seams to be pressed open for longer than I care to admit.  
Now it has inner borders (pictured below) and 3 of the 4 outer borders. 

Did I make the deadline? Nope. Am I lovin' what is done though? BIG Yes! 
And that makes me happy inside :)

No Progress

1. Scrappy Friendship Quilt
2. Quilt with No Name
3. Sewing Room Pencil Holder
4. Thomas the Tank Train Bag
5. Log Cabin Flag Quilt (partially quilted)
6. Quilts for Kids (2 quilt kits) 
7. Needle Case
8. The Great Couch Re-cover

What have YOU been up to? 

Have you been thinking of holiday sewing projects lately?
 Have you gone on a fall cleaning frenzy? 

This week's stats:

New projects - 2

Completed projects - 1
Currently in progress -10

Sewing under the influence (of cold medicine)

I've been feeling a bit foggy lately.

Could it be from...

a. the seasons changing
b. weird seep schedule
c. (still) looking- for-career-related-employment restlessness
d. an all day session of apartment cleaning, furniture moving, vigilante vacuuming 

My money is on, e.) all of the above

Once the sudafed kicked in I got to work on my Across the Sea QAL quilt.

We went from a string of pretties...

...to a pile of pretties.

...to a big pieced pretty.

It looks better in the daylight. You'll just have to take my word on that.
 The original goal deadline was October 2nd.

Crunch time....