W.i.P. Wednesday: Totally Trippin'

I spend a lot of time sewing in the car but this weekend may have set a new record.  We traveled to Western Pennsylvania and back to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  With a newly permitted driver looking to get in her required practice time I was regulated to the backseat and relieved of driving duty which left me with 16 hours of enforced blissful sewing time...

I kicked off the trip with a finish.  It was sooo hot to be sitting with this snuggly flannel backed quilt in my lap but I love tacking bindings in the car.

From there I moved on to my La Passacaglia and finished up this rosette.  I searched long and hard for the perfect cotton candy pink to make this one pop.

I thought I'd finished this one on our last road trip to Maine but I decided I didn't like the fabric I'd used on outer diamonds so I swapped it for this one.  Much better!

And I made another hexagon ring - or would have if I hadn't forgotten the last piece;-)  I didn't get as much of this prepped as I'd hoped before we left.  I've really been struggling with fabric choices for my remaining rosettes but I'm hoping if I just keep chipping away at it the pieces will fall into place.

With many miles left to go I pulled out my backup project and finally started hand quilting my Blue Plate Special.  I love how fast big stitch quilting goes - I was able to quilt around 4 of the Dresdens before it got dark.  It will be a long time before I get back in the car for more than a quick trip around town but I'm thrilled with how much I accomplished.  What's your go to road trip distraction?

Patriotic Pillow Party

I have a tendency to get a bit obsessed with fabric collections.  After a bout of bad weather in Maine earlier this summer we came home for a few days.  I was cleaning up my studio but when I went to put away my stack of Madison fabrics from my Star Struck pillow I decided it would be much more fun to whip up something else...  next thing I knew I had a trio of patriotic pillows.

These were really quick and easy since I'd already made both patterns.  I started by copying my Kate Spain Holiday Swoon pillow.  One of the things I'm obsessive about is keeping a project sheet for everything I do.  It is so nice to be able to look back and see what thread you were using or how you did something.  For this one I just pulled out my notes on how to resize the block to 16" and went to town on it.

A Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Season 2 binge helped the endless rows of quilting along.

Swoon;-)

From there I went back to Camille Roskelley's Stars and Stripes pattern.  I took my own advice from my Flower Sugar version and made up a R/W/R strip set and then cut a shorter piece and then added the extra row of white to what was left and added that to the bottom.  Once I was done I trimmed the length to size.  So much faster and more accurate than cutting each strip to size and sewing them together individually.

Some easy wavy line quilting and I was ready for a day of poolside binding to finish it off.

Catching up with this week's Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pillow Stats:
Finished Swoon pillow is 20" x 20"
Pattern: Adapted from Swoon by Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms
Fabrics:  Anna Griffin Madison prints from Marden's, Knoa Snow
Batting: Quilters Dream Orient
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Ermine (2312)

Finished Stars & Stripes pillow is 13" x 17"
Pattern: Stars and Stripes  by Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms
Fabrics:  Anna Griffin Madison prints from Marden's.
Batting: Quilters Dream Orient
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Ermine (2312)

The Fruits of My Labors

I've been on a bit of a sewing/blogging break.  Summer is just too short not to get out and enjoy it but drives to Maine and lazy days at the lake are perfect for handwork.  With all that time I've made a lot of progress on my La Pass this summer...

Lots of people seem to start with this one but I finally made the one small full cog.

Gratuitous piecing by the pool shot...

I couldn't resist adding in some Mendocino.  I love them all but I think this may be my all-time favorite cog.

I liked this one when I made it but now that I've put it in place I may swap out the purple and teal diamonds.

It turns out if you don't have time to prep your pieces before you leave on a road trip you can do it in the car... though I draw the line and cutting while moving!

All those little bits paid off and I was able to wrap up my 3rd large cog over the Labor Day Weekend.

And here's my progress to date... while we may be saying goodbye to summer it's hello football season so there will be plenty more opportunities to La Pass the time away;-)