Black and White and Read All Over!

Next up are the squares I have been working on for my black and white quilt through swaps. As I said in my previous post, I make sister squares to everything I send out. It's a great way to add to my black and white quilt.

I do think I am going to have to make sure I intersperse my squares with other ones so that I can break up the fact that I use a lot of the same fabrics. I mean, it makes sense. I have these and I don't go buy new fabric each time, but I should at least not put them right next to each other. 

Swapping time!

I have been really enjoying doing swaps with Swap-Bot. I haven't been taking pictures like I did when I first started, both blogging and swapping. Some of the funnest swaps have been my color your block (or your color my block, I can't remember) because I do a test run with my colors first, then I get to make the block for my partner. It's a good encouragement to keep working on blocks for my black and white quilt. My quilt will be made up of the blocks I make, as well as the blocks I receive from swaps. Below are the pictures of the blocks I sent. The blocks I made for myself will be another blog.

This in a full quilt would just be lovely. The recipient asked for purple, then an accent of yellow. I hope that she likes it. 

This one I liked because of all of the oranges. I still don't know though if I like the red as the trapezoids, or if I would have liked it more as yellow. The yellow is also really cool because it is a really awesome VeggieTales print. Made me smile :-)

Yes, this one is black and white. It's an extra for some of the black and white swaps that I do occasionally. It will be getting sent out as soon as there is another swap!

And that's it for today. Lots of pretty squares!

Aiming for Accuracy!

So, one of my summer projects has been the Aiming for Accuracy QAL. I'm excited with how it has been turning out. It is being hosted over at the Quilting Gallery. The link is over in my sidebar. This started out as a gift project, but has since been changed into just a fun quilt to make. It's also really helping my quilting in general. My accuracy has been improving, as well as I have been finding some pretty awesome tools that help with the whole accuracy thing. So, here we go! At the end is my digital design wall, which is wonderful for getting a sense of color balance and such.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Design Wall

I haven't gotten around to the square for this week, but thankfully, I have until Friday to do so, which means I can take a few days. 

Catch Up Time!

Hey world,

I have been busy cleaning and packing and working and sewing. I have lots of pictures of everything I have been working on as well. I just haven't gotten around to posting about them. The next few days will have posts covering what I have been up to. Yay for getting caught up.

This is my personalized flask for the dance event that I help organize. I am pretty excited about getting this in. It's just one of those fun things that gets to stick around as I am traveling around. Also, it gives me a good place to stash a little something to keep me calm while working said event. 

In case you are curious about what 35 ears of corn looks like, here you go. Fourth of July baby! I was eating corn for two weeks after this. 

 And here is my little Jeep turning 90,000 miles. It's crazy just how many miles I put on this thing, even though I don't feel like I drive that much.

 I got a new cutting mat at Joann's for 50% off (which was awesome) so Lucky had to break it in for me. Just had to. I don't get why he likes laying on my mats, but he does.

And I got to teach a friend's daughter the basics of tee shirt quilts. More photos to come of the finished quilt. It was fun to work on for her and with her. 

And that's what has been going on with me, at least in a snap shot. There are plenty more posts planned in the next few days to cover all of the other things I have been working on. Enjoy!

It's Sew Summer

So here we go! This week has gone by so quickly. Currently, the pants are winning. I don't know what happened, but somehow, I ended up making the wrong size pants, so I have to figure out how much I want to tear apart and how much I just want to make adjustments. 

The zipper has been such a frustrating issue. One of these days, we will get along, but I don't think it is going to be tonight. :-)

I also finished up the 12" x 12" square for a swap. This one was one where I could pick the pattern, while the receiver picks the colors. 

I am really glad to be done with this pattern. While I love it and it turns out kinda cool, it is frustrating. I hope that the recipient enjoys it when it gets there. It's currently winging its way to to Germany, so it will take a few weeks for me to hear back. 

I also have been able to get started on my Aiming for Accuracy QAL. 

I'm really excited to have this first one finished. It isn't quite as precise as I would like, but I like the colors. I'm excited to see how the rest of it turns out. There are some other people who are looking at doing two as they go, in two different color ways. I'm starting to debate doing this too. I would have to go dig through my stash though, as I am currently refusing to purchase anything unless it is connected to a pattern I am working right now. 

These are the rest of my fabrics. Pinks, oranges, reds, and purples. I am finally using my fabric stash! The only thing that I have purchased for this project is the background (dark chocolate brown). I am going to look for some batiks this next week for the edge of the quilt and the binding. 

And this is one of the surprises I had waiting for me in the mail today when I came home!

It's for my black and white quilt that I am getting squares from swapping for. It's the most eclectic one I have so far. You can't see it because I took a horrible picture, but there is a black strip over the top as well. I've been thinking about this quilt and I am contemplating doing black sashing and white cornerstones, but I'm not quite sure yet. But that is a long time out at this point. Still have quite a few more blocks to go.

PANTS!

Okay, so while I like looking nice and all, having pants that fit my short, curvy frame is difficult. Or at least it is difficult to find pants that look good and are within my budget.

Enter adjustable pants pattern.

I haven't quite gotten everything cut out and put together for these, but I am trying them. I have quite a bit of denim from a friend here in town, so that is my starting base. And I have just enough of it to actually make my trial pair. I'm going to go through and make a rough draft you could say. After that, I will know how I want to adjust the pattern and then I can start making them en masse. I do have quite a few pairs of dress pants right now, but there is something with each one of them that I can complain about. Hopefully this dive into clothing will help me better understand how to alter pants and thereby fix all the problems I have!

Productive Weekend!

Hey there,

So, I am really excited that I am slowly starting to get through all of my projects. This is my project board.

I know, it's crazy. And it doesn't even start to list the non quilting projects I have in mind or need to finish. Yes, I know. I'm a little addicted. I am reminded of the regularly.

But I did finish up a dog bed this weekend for my baby. I haven't been letting him have his rug in the living room because I have been using it to cut fabric quite a bit, so I thought I owed him something soft to lay on when he wants to whine at me.

I also finished up the second of the three quilts from the first group of children rescued from slavery in Ghana by Mercy Project.

This one is going to the director's family. I'm really excited to have this finished and can't wait to get it over to the family. While it isn't the best job of quilting I have done, I do like the back.

It has signatures from all different supporters, children and adults, of Mercy Project at our church. I really like it. I would have been able to give it to them today, but the mom and dad just got to spend a few days with their adopted son in Ghana while they wait for paperwork to clear. It has been kinda crazy for them with everything, but they are praying that they get to bring their son home in the fall.

I also got all the color fabric cutting done for a new quilt I am starting with my yellow and blue batiks. I'm calling it "Night Sky" and it is based off of the Sparkle Punch pattern by Elizabeth Hartman found in Fon's and Porter's The Art of Quilting. I'm going to expand the pattern to fit a queen sized bed, as well as try to make it a little more random. Yes, I love the random. I'm using a black background, which I haven't started cutting. I also am going to use a blue and yellow scrappy binding for it. I really do love scrappy bindings, so it will be fun, especially with the black. I kinda want to work on getting some of the items on that list of doom up there cleared off, especially since I am going to be moving soon. This quilt doesn't have to be finished right now, just finished sometime.

The next quilt I started this weekend (yes, I know, addict) is the Aiming for Accuracy quilt. I am using my pink, orange, and purple batiks for this one and found this awesome dark chocolate fabric to go with it. Unless it's held next to black, you can't tell it is black, which is awesome. It just is a little softer than if I had gone with black. And mind you, I drug all of these fabrics to the fabric store to find the best color. I think I am going to wait until the sale in a few weeks to get the backing fabric for this, which I would like to be the same color. This quilt might end up being a present, so the idea that it is all fancy and such is nice.

And if all of this isn't enough, I also worked on gridding and cutting shirts for a t-shirt quilt I am donating to a school I worked for this last year. It isn't anything super fancy, but I am lining it with bright yellow flannel and putting both sides of the shirts in the quilt.

The fronts of the shirts will make up the front of the quilt, and the backs will make up the backs. It is very similar to my sweatshirt quilt that I made for myself. It's a three by three quilt, so I got a third of them done today. I am trying my best to make sure that I have each image centered as much as possible on the shirt, so it's taking a little more time. I like it well enough, but I am glad to get it off my board. There will be some trimming after I get everything cut out and X quilted, but right now, each block is 15" x 17". We'll see what it finally works out to be.

And yah, I was busy this weekend. I left the house for the dog park and to go grocery shopping. I know, cloistered away, but I feel really productive. I actually am working like I feel like I had thought I would be working all summer. I really want to get a lot of those projects on the list off before I leave. That way, I know that I am moving quilts, rather than lots of pieces of fabric that could get strewn from here to Seattle.