Where have I been? Awesome, that's where

Alright, so I totally stopped posting during the frenzy of completing the Christmas Quilt of Doom for my mom (also known as the Mod Pop Quilt) and than I got a little distracted - I bought a HOUSE! I'm a real person now!

So a quick summary of the last few months in pictures-


Mod Pop Quilt Top - finished with only a week before Christmas!!



Completely finished/quilted and in place on my moms bed. I had no idea she had those cushions, but aren't they perfect! I'm so proud of this one, even if there were some minor (major) mishaps on the way. you can see some of the quilting in the most near blocks!



Package I sent in Pretty Little Pouch Swap 6 - I much prefer my extra little mug rug to my pouch - funny how that works out huh?



Package I received in the PLPS - HOW CUTE IS THIS POUCH?? The back is the best part - it has a little tiny adorable BEE!!



And... I bought this house!!! This is the day we inspected it, so no snow now! Expect many many house related projects to come!!

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 ;)