Hip 2 Bee Square June

Just by the skin of my teeth!  I finished this block. Jan asked for some wonky trees or log cabins, and we had to include these cute owls.  I had a vision of the owls sitting on the trees, with a little wonky tree to the side.  Here is what it turned out to be;

It was fun, and those owls are super cute!

baby quilt finished

I showed this quilt before but I've finished it now.  It came out really cute.

Some detail:

And the pieced back:

I got it done super early! My friend isn't due until the end of September, but it works out. I am pretty busy in the next few weeks, and we are moving apartments as well, so everything is going to have to be packed up pretty soon.

More ICE at CMQG

At last month's meeting of the CMQG, we started our ICE challenge (see my block here).  Each person who puts in a block got to take one home.  Now comes the hard part--we build on the block we got and make a mini-quilt.  I got Manuela's block.  I really love it, but I am having a hard time doing it justice.  I've made at least six sketches, and I've got ideas for a few more.  If  you had this lovely block, what would you do with it?

And you can only use the fabric in that little pile there...

Quick baby quilt...more process discussion

While I have not taken the "Process Pledge" per se, I feel like it is good to see how people come up with what they are doing.  I had some cute David Walker "Oh Boy!" fabric, and I knew I wanted to make a baby quilt for my friends who are expecting in September.  The fabric was so cute I didn't want to cut up the large-scale fabric, so I got out my notebook and designed a simple quilt.  I am sure there are patterns out there for this quilt--I just made it up based on some basic measurements.

I knew I wanted 2.5" squares (2" finished) so I figured out that if I put four together, I would get a side of a square that is 8.5".  So I cut my large squares 8.5x8.5, and cut a bunch of 2.5" strips.

Then I combined the strips together (length-wise) and cross-cut them into 2.5" pairs.  Then I mixed them all up and laid them out, like this:

As you can see, because I was using pairs I ended up needing "singles" on the ends.  I played around with the arrangement a little to make sure that there was some diversity--no pairs of the same color next to each other.   I sewed each row together and then sewed all the rows together, and I have a completed top!

Now I just need to figure out what to use for backing.  In general, it came together very quickly.  Feel free to email me if you would like to make a similar quilt and have questions about the measurements or anything.

My first sewn clothing!

I've been sewing for about 20 years now, and pretty much all of it has been quilting.  I really don't think I've ever made a piece of clothing (I have made a few purses).  I picked up the most recent issue of Stitch, and I just fell in love with the Ruffled Halter top from Oliver + S.  I knew I had to make it for my niece, who will turn 1 in about two weeks.  I was also reorganizing my fabric yesterday, and came across Meadowsweet.  So I jumped in and made this:

It's super girly, I know!  I feel like I can't do it justice until she's wearing it.  I hope she (and my sister) likes it!

Paintbox Quilt finally finished!

I started quilting this baby last weekend, but I ran out of thread, at around the same time that I also realized I had gone ahead and used the binding fabric for something else! So I had to wait on getting more thread and more fabric for binding. I got home from Texas (work trip again) to find my packages waiting for me. I got to work and finished the quilting and the binding!

My DH was kind enough to hold up the quilt for me to get a picture.

Here are some detail shots of the quilting--it's just stippling, because I was lazy.

Thanks to Elizabeth for hosting the quilt-a-long! I had a lot of fun with this one.  I definitely had the moments when I thought I hated it, but now I love it again.

And for Jacquie's Spring To Finish Challenge, this is my last one! I made all my goals.  I am super happy about that.

Finished!!! Here is the link to my post with my original goals.  

What next? I feel like I have so much free time....ha!

Giveaway day was good to me!

Giveaway was great! I won a giveaway from Katie.  I didn't even go to that many sites--I had a pretty tough week for work (lots of flight delays to and from Baton Rouge) so it sort of made up for my week.  I got the package yesterday. Thanks Katie!

It's a bunch of charm squares of Hope Valley, and a honey bun of Wonderland by MoMo. Not sure what to do with them yet, but super fun to look at!