Mystery Quilt Progress

So today I was going to work on an apron but I may get to go to a fabric store on Saturday that just might have pancake fabric!! I decided to catch up on my guild mystery quilt. I had half of last month's step to complete. I stopped working on it because my sewing machine kept eating my blocks :( and I got frustrated. Today however was a brighter day and everything seemed to come together nicely!! So nicely, that I also finished this month's step!! Hooray! I think the last step is next month. I am so excited to be staying on track with this mystery. 

Pancakes!

I have finished making 12 pancakes! 

This picture was taken before I hand stitched them closed, but they are finished now. And I learned a new skill! The ladder stitch!! It worked nicely :) Tomorrow I hope to make a little apron to go with them! These pancakes are so cute and so much fun! I love them!!

About my 15 minutes a day goal, I didn't make it one day!! I worked my 12 hour shift Monday, then had a meeting and work on Tuesday night (14+ hours) so I didn't get my 15 minutes of sewing in  yesterday. I still plan to attempt my goal, but I have to admit I was totally bummed that! Oh well! Today was a new day and I got my sewing time in, so it's all good!

Time....

Time is something I struggle with. I am not one of those who can spend every waking moment doing something productive, so I am acutely aware that I "waste" a lot of time. Also, I think I need big chunks of time to do things. In particular sewing. I like to have a day set aside just for sewing. Now that is a nice thought but the reality is I am a Mom, a wife, and I have a job. All of this means I rarely can find a day to sew. I get frustrated and irritable and down right blue, and most importantly it causes me to not sew on anything. So, I am going to try to carve out at least 15 minutes a day to sew. This will be hard for me and I know there will be days that it will take me 15 minutes just to get my machine set up, but I am going to try it and see if I can feel a bit more accomplished. Today I spent 30 minutes sewing and I got more done than I thought I would. 

My current project is from this book.

I saw a review of this book a while back. I can't remember where I read it! Sorry! Anyway I thought it sounded like a fun book. I ran across it when I was vacationing recently, and I bought it! I am working on the pancake game. So much fun! In my 30 minutes I sewed on 7 syrups and 5 butters to my pancakes. My goal for my few minutes of sewing tomorrow will be to finish sewing the butters on :) I love this book and the fun games and tons of ideas it has in it. There are several more games I want to make at some point. I don't have any little people so this game will be donated to my guild to sell to raise money for our guild during our quilt show. Maybe some little ones will have some fun with it! I'll share pictures when I get it finished. 

Some weeks are more Quilty than others

I always have good intentions of getting a lot done but most of the time that doesn't happen. If my children are out of school, or if I have to work, sewing just doesn't happen. And sometimes even when the events of a day fall just right and I think I am going to spend the day sewing I still don't get to sew. I did get a few things accomished, and most of these things did have a deadline so I am going to think positive and chalk the past week up as a success :)

I made my April block of the month for the Nine Patch Nirvana. I am combining this BOM with the rainbow scrap challenge so that's why it is purple! It's hard to tell from my picture but the center and corners are dark purple. Purple is not my favorite color but I am pleased with this block. Check out what other people are making with purple here!

My sister and I have decided to do an improv-style "round" robin with each other. I am not sure "round" is the right wording for what we plan to do, since our activity will be more improv, or free style than in the round. Our idea is inspired by The Traveling Quilts that I saw on Quilt Dad's blog. Here is a link to information about The Traveling Quilts. We decided to start off with a 12.5 block and a 6.5 block just to give us some guidance. Sometimes too much freedom can be a bit intimidating. We are tentatively planning to exchange our works once a month for about 6 months. Since it is just the two of us, we aren't going to stress too much over the rules. This is for fun!! As you can see I have chosen a ship and fish for my first pieces. I have always wanted to make a ship quilt and when I found the 12.5 block pattern here  I knew I wanted to make it. Then I found inspiration  here  for my 6.5 inch fish block. We are actually going to the beach this weekend and will be exchanging for the first time, and our 6 months of exchanging fall in the summertime, so I think this is a very appropriate theme!I hope she will like working with them too. I can't wait to see what she has made!!

My best friend's birthday is coming up. Yep, that's a deadline! I found all of these cute fruit fabrics at Joann's and thought I would make her a couple of potholders. With the extra fabric I made two more. I will probably donate the two extra to my quilt guild's boutique. Maybe someone will like them. 

I love the backs of these potholders as much as the fronts!!

My sister's birthday is also soon. Deadline #2. I found this fabulous map fabric and knew right away I wanted to make pillowcases for her. The little checkerboard pillowcase was made from the scraps. She has a small travel size pillow and I hope this will fit it! My family loves the pillowcases I make them so I know these will be appreciated and used!! I will be seeing her this weekend too. A sisters beach getaway to celebrate life! I cannot wait!!

There is something about rolled up binding that makes me smile :) I made this binding this morning for my "Laura" quilt. Pattern can be found here. I also planned to piece the backing for this quilt but in searching for more yellows in my stash I was lucky enough to find a piece of fabric that will work nicely for the backing. I cut it to size and put a label on the back. Then I found enough yellow to make the binding. Maybe in a couple of weeks I can sandwich it and get it quilted. For now, I will enjoy this happy rolled up binding :)

Happy Happy April!! 

Quilt Retreat

I was lucky enough to attend our guild's quilt retreat this weekend. It was so much fun! I got a few things accomplished while I was there.

I finished step 3 of our guild's mystery quilt first. Yea! I can't wait for step 4!!

Then I pieced a baby quilt top. Yellow for the rainbow scrap challenge. I picked this pattern because we share a name :) I love how happy this top looks! The pattern is Laura from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

3rd I worked on these blocks from the book Fat Quarter Style. This pattern is called Plume. As you can see I am making it in patriotic colors. This one will be donated to our guild's community service for their Hometown Heroes program. These blocks are just laid out ready to be seen together. I like the yellow "plumes" which make me think of shooting stars or maybe fireworks.

And last I worked on sewing my jelly roll strips together for my whirling hexagons quilt top. I didn't take any pictures because I still need to cut them up into triangles.

Progress is good and fun! Retreat was awesome! My one regret: I wish I had taken more pictures...Oh well. I will next time!

RSC and Tula Pink

It is a rare treat when one of my daughters' decides to join me in my sewing area, but today it happened. My younger daughter and I started working through Tula Pink's book of blocks last summer. We put the numbers 1-100 in a bowl and when we finish one block we draw out a number to determine our next block. When we finish we will each have made 50 blocks and we plan to put them into one big quilt. We aren't rushing this and are just working on a block here and there whenever the fancy hits us. Here are the two blocks I made today.

We are just using random scraps. I wish I could say this is making a dent in our scraps but it really isn't! I think we have made a total of 25 blocks so far. Here is the book we are using. I love it!

 

I think I mentioned last week that I wouldn't get much sewing done and I was right! I was hoping to get more cutting done, but I didn't get much of that done either! Let's focus on the positive. For the yellow rainbow scrap challenge I cut out enough squares for two baby quilts...yea! Also in the picture a few 5 inch squares to add to my charm collection. You can see what others are making in yellows here!

I plan to work on putting these tops together at our guild retreat at the end of the month. Now that it is cut the temptation to start sewing is great!!

I also finished my geese for our guild's mystery quilt 2nd clue. I am so excited that I am keeping up so far! 

I used the method Bonnie Hunter taught us at a class for using the scrap triangles to make bonus HST. I didn't take a picture but I made 96 bonus 3.5 inch HST!! I was tickled with that! I'm not sure how I will use them, but it was fun not to add that extra scrap fabric to a scrap pile or the trash :) 

The goal for this week is to work on the Twirling Hexagon quilt to get it ready to take to retreat and to start cutting the fabric for my daughter's graduation quilt so I can also take it to retreat. I did sit down and figure up a game plan for her quilt, so that is a little progress, right??

Hello March!

Hooray for March!

This month the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is YELLOW! I made my March Nine Patch Nirvana BOM in yellows. I love the skulls :) I love making just one block a month. Check out what everyone else is making for their Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week.

I also finished my Love Notes baby quilt. It turned out cute! I am saving it for when I need a baby girl gift, I think. I prefer a brighter color palette but this one turned out very sweet and I am sure it will be perfect for some baby girl someday!

This week we got the 2nd clue to our guild's mystery quilt. I have one 'wing' on each of my geese. I should get the second 'wing' on today or tomorrow. I am really enjoying this mystery so far. If you would like to work on the mystery too our guild is posting the steps on our website here.

This isn't quilting related, but I did get some new shoes. Bright pink! I think they are the perfect shoes to celebrate the coming of spring!

Soon will be our guild retreat. I need to figure out what I am going to take to work on. I am thinking a yellow and white baby quilt, my daughter's graduation quilt, and/or the quilt I have started called Twirling Hexagons to donate to a senior. I have to start cutting all my fabric for all of these quilt tops, so that is probably what I will work on next week. I want to be ready for retreat so hopefully I can get a lot accomplished while I am there!!

I am happy it's March!