Wordless Wednesday

Sewing up a storm

Here in New England everyone has been gearing up for hurricane Irene.  Growing up in the Florida Keys it's hard for me to get too excited about a hurricane but I figured as long as the power stayed on this would be a perfect day for sewing.  We got lucky, a few flickers early in the day but for the most part everything was fine.  It might however look like a hurricane hit my quilt studio;-)  Remember those borders I'd pieced that wouldn't fit on my Sherbet Pips zig-zag?  Well I pulled them apart and added some sashing and came up with this baby quilt.

 I did get the offset zig-zag effect I was going for and I think some straight line quilting will enhance the effect.  I've got one more row of on-point squares that I'll use for the back.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish piecing that together tonight and I'll be ready to quilt Tuesday when the kids go back to school. 

(lack of) WIP Wednesday

Actually this is a "No Progress at All Wednesday" but what I failed to accomplish sewing I made up for with fabric shopping.  The super creative Aimee of Salt Marsh Designs joined me in Sanford Maine for a trip to Marden's.  She's a bad influence because I came home with all of this...

 
We also visited the World Quilt Show in Manchester with some friends from the BMQG.  It was an amazingly inpirational show with a wide variety of quilting styles and techniques AND lots of vendors: )  I managed to snag a few treasures...  3 yards of Heather Ross Mendocino, fave Jennifer Paganelli's Queen Street, my first taste of Children at Play and Aviary 2 coordinates.

The big score was a yard of this Alexander Henry print from 2004.  It's called Unhappy Hour and I can't wait to mix it up with my Ghastlies collection!

The kids head back to school next Tuesday so hopefully I'll be putting this to good use soon.

WIP Wednesday - a quiltastrophe!

I was so NOT going to show you this but it's been awhile since I've posted and I think people like seeing the bloopers of quilts gone wrong.  Way back in May I showed you my Sherbet Pips zig-zag.  The rows were all completed but I wanted to add some borders to make it fit Audrey's full-sized bed.  Time passed, I worked on some other things, it was summer and the kids needed to be entertained... in the back of my head a vision for these borders was coming together and this week I finally put it in motion. 

Hopefully you can see where I was trying to go with this.  I wanted a thin white inner border to stop the zig-zag and then the on-point diamonds would be offset to mimic the zig-zag.  On the top and right I've almost got it right.  I did so much math and really thought I had it!  Unfortunately I was doomed from the start!  For this to work the sides would need to match but I start with a zig and end with a zag.  Sigh!

Now it's back to the drawing board.  The easy way out is to just quilt the zig-zags and have another throw.  I can even make a second throw with the borders: set them all horizontally with some wide stripes in between.  For now it's back to the WIP pile while I wait for another flash of inspiration.

Hushabye baby

I write so much about my quilts as I work on them that actually finishing seems rather anticlimactic so I'll keep this brief. 

Fabrics: Hushabye by Tula Pink, Moda Cross Weave in Aqua, Lily & Will brown posh plaid binding.

Lessons learned:

• FMQ is fun and easy once you get over the hump.  Getting over the hump requires an insane amount of practice.
• Step back and look at your FMQ every so often to make sure you're still doing it the way you started.  If you look closely the stripe on the right is quilted more densely.  They both look nice, just maybe not together.
• Book a massage in advance for the day after a marathon FMQ session.  You'll still appreciate it even if you don't really need it.  You'll probably really need it: )



Back Where You Belong

Yea!!!  My machine finally came home Friday afternoon and I immediately launched in to a marathon sewing session.  I was definitely suffering from withdrawal after 2 weeks but now it practically purrs.  Next time I'll plan my servicing better! 

First up I sewed the binding on my Hushabye baby quilt so it's all ready to be hand tacked and added to the finished pile.

Next I added mitered borders to my Fig Tree HST so this top is officially done.  My good friend Aimee of Salt Marsh Designs has this awesome mitered border tutorial that made it sooo easy!  This quilt is big, 88"x96", so it's a bit difficult to maneuver.  Now I've got to decide if I'm going to use the longarm to quilt this or do it on my machine.  I love the way this pattern looks with straight line quilting but it would be so much faster to just go with an allover design. 

We're still enjoying the heatwave here so I did take some time away from my machine to take the kids to the pool which gave me a chance to finish up this applique project.  I'm trying to decide if this is going to be a pillow or a wall hanging.  It's pretty but it's not really my style so I think it will be gifted off the premises ASAP: )

While waiting for my machine to return I also got this basted so now I'm ready to get quilting!