WIP :: 3/13/2013

It's been a great week so far both on the quilt progress front and elsewhere.  The most exciting for today is Habemus Papam!  The cardinals elected a new Pope and I was watching quietly at my desk today - so exciting to see Pope Francis and hear his first words as pontiff - so humble in asking us all to pray for him before he bestowed the first blessing.  :)

Also in exciting news: I have a new sewing machine!!  Janome switched out the machines we use at work for the newer model 8200 and so it was a busy couple of days to get the old ones cleaned, checked out and boxed up; then unpacking and checking in the new ones.  Our local dealer is able to sell the used 7700 Horizons we had - so I have a new-to-me machine for keeps.  hooray!  Currently, it's sitting in the box in my guest bathroom because I have nowhere else to set it until I can get it out and on the sewing table.  haha.  I loved using this machine at work and am so thrilled to be able to upgrade from my little brother/baby lock.  I already have a quilt ready to free motion lined up.  

completed
secret Baby quilt for BAM! C's baby boy who has been in the hospital for over 2 months.  I've mentioned this project briefly after retreat, but couldn't show it until it was gifted.  I used the charms from the Eye Spy charm swap at ELQ for this one and pieced the back with some solids and a strip of trains.  He also got a mini quilt to match with some of the leftover charms that is hospital ward friendly.

This ended up about 30" square and I quilted around each of the white diamond shapes in different color threads.   The mini is 14" square and quilted diagonally through the Xs.  It's backed with a stripe fabric.

mini quilt

In progress
Over the weekend I quilted my X and Plus quilt and am ready to stitch the binding down over the next few evenings.  It'll give me a chance to catch up on Psych episodes.  Backing is a DS for Joann's print and I quilted straight lines on the diagonal through the Xs and along the seams in the pluses.

My kaleidoscope blocks have been laid out on the living room floor for the last week, and I finally got them sewn into rows and assembled the quilt top!  I've been wanting to make this one for awhile and decided on color scheme months ago.  It's exactly what I wanted it to look like - don't you love when that happens?  Now to find backing and decide on how to quilt this, but I already love it to pieces.

Psalm quilt update: this one is ready to baste and I've decided on free motion swirls for this one.  It'll be first up on my new machine and hopefully finishes smoothly.


no progress/in the pile
Science Fair
Swoon
Roman Stripe
Athena Puzzle from retreat winnings
GS Quilt
Pointless Wonder star quilt

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for this WIP update.  I enjoy having the chance with so many blog link ups and instagram's #finishit2013 to stay motivated on these projects.  It definitely gets me to the sewing machine during the week, knowing that I've committed to finishing up various things so thanks to those who are hosting all the wonderful link-ups around the internet!