Fabric Fun + Planning for my Mod Pop Quilt

WIPs, in pictures.

Test block for Mod Pop quilt. Current plan for the full scale quilt - these colors:

A gradient of grays as the focal colors (the actually swirly parts) and the yellow as background. Do you think it will work?

The fun Christmas WIP - an advent calendar. Almost done! It's loosely based off of the pattern on Sew Mama, Sew!

And some fun upholstery fabric (no idea what to do with it...)

Linking with WIP Wednesday

Absentee Month

And yet another month has gone by without me noticing. Holy cow! Life moves in fits and spurts I suppose - all at once for awhile, and then (hopefully) it slows down. I could use a little break from the pace lately, but regardless, I have had had a little bit of time for sewing... just a little. Here is my current WIP - can you guess what it is?

I'm using all of those Christmas charm squares I got from the charm square swap I participated in. 16 is my favorite - how cute is that bunny??

I vowed to go home and take pictures of the whole lot of them sewn up into their respective "randomized" position (16 is in the bottom right hand corner of the grid, very eye catching!) but I kept forgetting, so I'll just post these pictures and try to remember this weekend.

I survived Sandy with barely a scratch - the only negative side effect was my screen door leaking inexplicably, but only for about 15 minutes, so no damage done. The cats did not like the storm however. But all the needles on the trees descended on the parking lot onto the cars - annoying but beautiful!

Enjoy your weekend!

Finish: Wiggly Whimsy Quilt

I finished the Wiggly Whimsy quilt Friday night so I could donate it on Saturday morning at the DC Modern Quilt Guild - we met at the National Gallery sculpture garden. It was a beautiful day, perfect for pictures, and oh my gosh are those guys talented! I was a little embarrassed to donate my second ever quilt when I saw everyone else's quilt, but everyone was so supportive! I'm so excited to see Elle, Jess, Heather and Fredrick again, although I'm out of town for next weekends meeting. They're all working on paper pieced projects which makes me want to try it, although I am not endeared to the idea of cutting all the pieces (paper and fabric). So without further ado, here are the finished pictures of Wiggly Whimsy.

Large, wavy lines broke up the blockiness of the finished design. I had this extra block, so I pieced it off center on the back.

And here is Elle holding up the quilt under the Metropolitain sign next to the little cafe out there. The finished quilt is about 40 x 58... ish? It's bigger than it looks here because Elle is tall! Darling that she is, she took my quilt home with her to ship to a charity in Ohio (my home state).

All in all, it was a great experience and I will definitely be hanging out with the DC MQG again.

WIP: Wiggly Whimsy Quilt Top

So, the DC Modern Quilt Guild's quilts for charity turn in is this Saturday - so when I received the extra white I needed to finish the quilt top, I quickly stitched up the rest of it. That means this week I'll have to do all the quilting and binding - yikes! But I'm up for the challenge. I think it's turned out pretty well, don't you?

Also received in the mail - last months Stash Builder Club bundle! Look at these beauties!

I tried my hand at FMQ for the first time this week; after I got the foot, I turned scared and hadn't used it - just let the foot sit dejectedly to the left of my sewing machine. So here it is - my epic first attempt!

I bet you were'nt prepared for that many squiggly lines, were you? This side looks a little better -

... but mostly because I only took a small picture of it. Anyhow, this first little stack has Insul-Brite in it so I will be binding it and making a little pot holder of it.

I'd like to leave you all with a beautiful fall/winter image that has been a comfort to me in the suddenly 40 degree weather this weekend:

Have a good week!

RATZ Swap - Received

Soooo cute! Look what I received last night??

What cute packaging!!

And here it is - picture is almost true to life. I'm going to be wearing this instead of my work badge, you better believe it! Thanks Chickenfoot!

Woah - where has a month gone?

Holy cow! Where have I been this last month? I tell you what, I'm not even sure sometimes. What I can say is that I have gained some new work responsibilities (yay!) which I'm not really being compensated for (boo) but is a good resume builder. But even though I haven't been blogging, I have been sewing. So here's a fast catch up:

I finished mailed and participated in my first ever swap - the RATZ (Rapid And Tiny Zaka) swap! They accept everyone, but the Mama's aren't doing a swap this month. :'( Here is my Zaka Name Tag - for Ingrid! To see a better picture, and all the other stuff I sent, check out Ingrid's flikr account. The only sadness - I haven't received my own nametag! I'm excited to receive it soon, I hope.

After my frustration with the string quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids, I decided to use the fabric and try something a little different.  I love the Wiggly Whimsy quilt from Ruby Blue Quilting studio on Moda Bake Shop. 

Instead of using charm squares, I used the Cuzco by Kate Spain I bought for the string quilt, and some extra charms I had lying about. The quilt is all cool colors which looks awesome against the bright white.

And so far, its going well and simply! Just need to finalize the layout and sew the strips together. Note that it's only 5 strips wide (instead of 7) to be baby quilt size rather than lap quilt size - so I have a left over block for the back!  Now the real question - how should I quilt it? I was thinking of long wiggly/wavy lines.

Also this month, I ate this awesome thing at a local restaurant - way to expensive but delicious; it's a new take on mozzarella sticks!

In other life related news, I'm starting the process of house hunting! I'm not sure whether to be excited or terrified, but it's about time I settle down in a more permanent way. More to come on this front!

Enjoy the day - hope your weather is better than ours ;)

Cell Phone Wallets

So I found this fun tutorial while cruising around various links in Flickr; it's supposed to be for Christmas gifts, but I just had to try it when I found it! Check it out here.

Once I realized that instead of putting a notepad in the right pocket, I can fit 2 different cell phones... well. I'm making one for each of my female coworkers for work and home cells.

Here are the first 2:

The front...

The backs...

Inside of the apple one - my boyfriend pointed out that an iPhone should go in the left pocket, and asked if it was intentional! ...obviously not.

And the inside of the linen. I gotta say, I  can't decide which one I like more. The apple one is so bright and colorful, but how cute is this applique? In real life, the background of the appliqued creatures are very close to the color of linen. My first try at machine applique btw, which I think went pretty well. What do you guys think?

I have to make atleast 2 more, possibly three- I have one other coworker, want to send one for Dana in her care package, and maybe even one for me! I also worked on organizing my fabric this weekend; what colors should I make the remaining wallets?

Linking on Fabric Tuesday (Quilt Story) and WIP Wednesday (I have two more to make, after all!) (Freshly Pieced).

WIP Wednesday: String Quilt and Charm Swap

First the pretty pictures- I finished cutting my charms for the Christmas Charm Swap! Check it out:

from these fabrics:

Super cute right? They are Cherry Christmas: Advent Christmas Washing Line by Aneela Hoey for Moda Fabrics and Nordic Holiday by Michael Miller. The Nordic holiday cut up surprisingly well.

I used BacanThenEggs tutorial on cutting charms in 10 cuts - once thought about it, it worked great and went really fast. The folding seems complicated but once you pick up your fabric and fold it, it's fairly obvious. Also, they're actually the right size!

Now to the less pretty... I've been working on my first ever paper pieced string block quilt for the 100 Quilts for Kids QAL - the 20 inch blocks. ... At first I hated it. Than I added white strips to the other half of the block and was ok with it, emotionally prepared to not "love" it like I did the first quilt. The white stripes would add a nice diamond pattern in at the center and look kind of cool. The lines are a little wonky, it kept wrinkling up with the paper and I couldnt get the top fabric to keep from moving away from the bottom fabric (gah??? why??)...

Obviously I haven't trimmed it down yet. I was totally ... "ok" with how it looked. So I tore the paper out... to find...

Several of the strips were only attached to the paper. See the hole between the green and gray in the top left? there, by the bottom right navy, the right of middle dark blue... several places. So I'm not gonna lie, after struggling with this one block for the better part of 3 days, I cried. I tried to fix it but managed to wrinkle it and in some places make it worse. 

My boyfriend says "Maybe the paper thing isn't for you". I think he may be right. I'm fairly certain this is how UFO's are made. So tonight I'm going to take it out of the corner where I threw it at the end of the night, fold it up and stick it in my closet. Than I'm going to make a different quilt for kids. Maybe one without... paper. ..or so many straight lines. 

100 Quilts for Kids QAL, Christmas Charm Swap, etc

Alright - today's post is going to be extremely picture heavy. But it's beautiful fabric- so I don't think anyone will complain.

My first stack of half-quarters from the Stash Builder club by PinkCastle. Gorgeous, huh? I love the pinks!!

Awesome fabric from FatQuarter Shop for my Christmas charm swap! Cutting into it this weekend. I got a yard and a half each - so I can have a little extra!

And here is my order of Christmas fabric with a fun charm pack - Momo Mushroom Animals - and my Cuzco Moda Jelly Roll (by Kate Spain). 

How cute is that?? Look at that bear! Look at it. And the apples have EYES!

...which would be creepy if they weren't so cute.

Also purchased from the same store, Cuzco by Kate Spain for my 100 Quilts for Kids QAL; so beautiful it hurts! My current favorite layout potential for these paper pieced string blocks is this:

but it only came with two strips of orange! What is a girl to do?

This is organized by the amount of fabric per color I have, with yellows, oranges and grays on the edges. Don't like it nearly as much (note the white strip in the middle represents a strip of white fabric).

And here it is in color order. So pretty... Le sigh. I guess I'll figure it out this weekend!

On a side note, I ordered the charm pack and Cuzco jelly roll from Quilt Taffy on Etsy. This is a completely unpaid endorsement: the prices are great, I was able to bundle packages to reduce shipping, and my fabric was shipped immediately! So few people had the Cuzco line, and they had it for a fair price. Great job, Quilt Taffy! 

Join Swim, Bike, Quilt's 100 Quilts for Kids QAL!

Finish: Paint Chip Quilt! She's a beaut!

It's done, and it's gorgeous if I do say so myself. Now, tons of glamour shots.

Pretty in the sun, huh? That is a completely unaltered photo! (except cropping).

The back - wrinkly but fun. I love the squares! It's subtle but I think it worked out.

Notice that I used the "cheater" binding - left an inch and a half all the way around the edge on the backing, then folded and top stitched. Despite some inconsistent width in some areas, I actually love the medium gray on the white - it makes a clear border, but doesn't distract from the colors!

A close up of some of the quilting- see the colored thread?

It is an awkward size - about 28" wide by 60" long. Not a hugely useful size (a little narrow for a lap quilt) but lovely to look at if I do say so myself. I'm so glad to have finished my first quilt, and more importantly that I'm happy with the end result!

This week is going to be great - my mail has been delivered with the jelly roll I'm using for the 100 quilts for kids QAL and my first half yard full bundle from the stash stack club (Pink Castle) has arrived!!! Pictures to come, buttons below.

I am also linking to several linky groups.