WIP :: 3/27/13

the party like it's your birthday edition - because that's right - today is my birthday!  :D
I've got plans and ideas for today mostly including doing whatever I feel like, some quilt time, fabric drooling at Hancock's of Paducah and trivia tonight.

I'm also planning to make cannoli cups in place of cake to celebrate and have some packages to open and enjoy today too!  Check out all the great WIPs this week over at Lee's to celebrate.

complete
 My X and Plus quilt is finished!  It was easy to bind it while catching up on Psych episodes and is blogged here.

I'm a bit in-between projects at the moment, so there isn't much quilt talk today.  I do have my new machine set up and ready to go!  So excited to really get to play with it today and in the coming weeks. I ended up rearranging my sewing room some while setting up the machine and love how it looks.  Of course, some of that is due to having all the fabric picked up and things neatly put away.  We'll see how long that lasts....

in progress
My Psalm quilt is basted and ready to go.  I just need to practice my free motion swirls a bit before starting into the quilt.


Swoon/Roman Stripe/Kaleidoscope: these are both at the same point - needing backing and to decide on how to quilt them.  These will hopefully be next in line for finishing once i get them backed and basted.  Really want to be able to use them already!

 I hope you all have a great my birthday!  ;)

Introducing...

...Cross-Eyed!  Because all those Xs and Pluses start to get a bit overwhelming.  ;)

Last year I participated in two rounds of a swap on Flickr for X Plus blocks - so much fun!  I ended up with 35 blocks and wasn't sure how I wanted to assemble them at first - one lap/wall quilt? -two smaller quilts? -make more blocks for a larger size?

  Well the blocks came with me to quilt retreat and I played with them on the design wall for a bit before settling on using them all in a lap size quilt and put together the top.  Once home, I found the perfect piece in my stash for backing - this fun DS for Joann's Daisy print.  It was just the right size too!  It's quilted with straight lines through the pluses and on the diagonal with a blue aurifil thread and bound in the same black sketch-like print (not sure on designer/print) that I used on my Summer Sampler quilt.

It was a lot of fun to make and as it's still wintery cold here in KY, I'll be pulling it out in the evenings. :)  Turning the blocks into a quilt was on my list for the Finish A Long Quarter 1 over at She Can Quilt and this is also the project I chose for my March finish in the Lovely Year of Finishes over at Fiber of All Sorts.  Here's the start of the month goal setting post.  It's nice to cross things off the list and use them instead.  

In the meantime, I'll be linking up over at Crazy Mom Quilts for the Friday Finish!  Be sure to stop and check out all the fun project finishes.

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!

wine, chocolate & quilts!

Happy March dear readers!  March pretty much equals Spring for me and even though we had a light dusting of snow on the 1st, I'm hoping the Spring weather will be heading our way soon.  This weekend was the first in almost 2 months where I had nothing scheduled and it was wonderful!  I went to the first Wine & Chocolate event here in town - delicious.  Desserts from lots of restaurants and good wines to taste made a great lunch.  There were truffles of all kinds, cheesecake, a chocolate fountain and some spectacular brownie bites.  My favorite wine was the chocolate - of course.

I also got out my kaleidoscope blocks to press and that led to laying out all the pieces on my living room floor 'just to see how it looks'.  ha.  Clearly I opened up that box of threads....so then I had to sew the blocks together and they are still on the floor waiting to be assembled into rows & a finished top.

here's an instagram sneak peek of the layout

That was going to be my March project for the Year of Finishes, but I decided to go with this quilt instead - it needed a little push.

This is the top and I want to baste, quilt & bind my X plus quilt this month.  For backing I'm using a DS for Joann's daisy print I picked up last year.  I plan to do straight line quilting so it shouldn't be too tricky to finish.  

Joining in on the linky party over at Fiber of All Sorts.
 Linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday this week too and the Small blog meet up over at Lily's Quilts.

Come check out what everyone is working on and be inspired!

Quilt Con love

The inevitable wrap up of my travels to Quilt Con - in short, Awesome!  

The slightly longer version includes just some of the highlights of the trip:

Breakfast of Quilters each morning at Le Cafe Crepe - delicious!  

Photos in the Moda Bakeshop Booth each day with Momm was so much fun.  It was great to meet Lissa from Moda in person as well - instead of just exchanging emails about School Block Challenge.

Fabric!  The vendors had wonderful fabrics and notions and all sorts of quilting deliciousness.  Here are just some of the goodies I brought home with me.  Not pictured is some Architextures and snippets of Pearl Bracelets.  Can't wait to play with them!

the Quilts!  Of course the quilts - so many wonderful quilts and designs and colors.  Such an inspiration to see these all together, face to thread, so to speak.  I've been quilting for about 10 years and seeing quilts that are exciting, that stand out while still being rooted in the history of quilt making was awesome!  I loved having the chance to see some wonderful quilts in person, that I've only seen online.  There are too many favorites to try and show them here so I'll just put this one in.

with Jaybirds awesome Science Fair *squee*

Thanks to all in the MQG who put on a great show!  Thanks to all the talented quilters who were represented in the show and to all those who create beautiful quilts.

My first trip to Austin was excellent:  Great food, good friends, warm weather and a grand time at the 1st ever Quilt Con!   :D

February Finish!

I am so excited to share this quilt finish on the Year of Finishes link up for February!  It's been a long time coming and setting a deadline gave me the motivation to sit down & quilt this one.  I finally got some good natural light shots of the pre-washed finished quilt even with the dreary cold here this week.  

I took it out on my lunch break at work today.   :)

please ignore the blue tape...thx!

You can see the texture of the quilting really well in these shots too which is fabulous (in my opinion!).

 My Summer Sampler Quilt - quilted, bound and labeled!
Edit: this was included on my Quarter 1 finish a long found here.

to the Con!

I'm so thrilled to being going to Quilt Con with my Momm!  It's awesome to be going to the first show and I know there will be so many gorgeous quilts to see.  I'm also hoping this incoming winter storm (which will probably bring rain/sleet here to KY) won't be an issue in the morning. 

Here's 5 fun facts about me to join in on the meet up party [even though I'm cutting it close tonight].

that's me at the top of the Arch

1  My Aunt taught me to quilt one summer and when I got home, I hooked my Momm in too.  :)  I love all parts of quilting!

2  I earned my Girl Scout Gold Award.   Scouting took me to Savannah, St, Louis and Switzerland and I am a Lifetime member.

3  Music goes with me everywhere: car, work, home, in my head, iPod, etc.  I'm really quick at learning  song lyrics and pull them out to create a soundtrack for myself.

4  I've read Harry Potter too many times to count and went to most of the movies midnight opening.  I highly recommend the audiobooks too - amazing!  :)

5  I love my job!  I work at the National Quilt Museum and am surround by quilts all day, teach quilting to kids and get to learn & try new things all the time!  Serious fun happens at my desk.


Looking forward to seeing the quilts and those of you going this weekend.  Otherwise, I'll see you back here in blogland next week!  Onto the Con.