Layout choices

I finished the star points on the queen sized medallion quilt I am making for our bed!  The pattern (Sarah's Wedding Quilt from Fabric Trends magazine) calls for a layout like this first picture.

 But I'm also thinking of making the layout like this picture:

DH and I like a larger quilt with plenty of overhang so the second layout would be a way to make the center of the quilt bigger.  On the other hand, the top point of the star might get tucked under the pillows with this layout and I think that would look a little strange.  I'd also have to make more blocks for the pieced border and I'm low on scraps for this quilt, but I think I could manage it.

I really need to try it out on the bed but DH is working hard to get some AC into our bedroom and that means lots of drywall dust and stuff everywhere in our room - not a great place to try out quilt layouts.

UFO completion

Last week I was able to finish the quilting on this lap quilt (The pattern is Crossing from the June 2010 APQ Magazine).  The only thing left is to bring the binding to the back and sew it in place.

Of course, after I had the whole top sewn together, I  realized that I could have planned the placement of the tan blocks too, instead of just the darker blue blocks and that would have made a better pattern, but oh well. I'll leave it as is.

With that quilt waiting for a few hours of TV time to be completed, I unexpectedly got motivated to finish this Advent Calendar, it only needed a rod pocket and a rod to hang it up.  Then I put together this Jesse Tree to go along with the Advent Calendar.  I have some symbols I printed off the internet that I am going to laminate, and then attach Velcro to the back of each symbol so it will stick to the wool felt of the Jesse Tree.   Every day in December, DS will be able to pull a symbol out of a pocket on the Advent Calendar and place it on the Tree.


I also found time to finish a husband-sized baby sling that I started two years ago and never finished.  DH asked for his own so he could take turns holding DS and not have to bother readjusting my sling every time.  We don't have any need for it right now, but maybe in the future.

Then I made a little hexagon needle book from this tutorial.   I have a picture, but it's still on the camera and hasn't made it on to the computer yet.   I really like it and I have plans to make a few as gifts for the sewers I know.

WIP (Work in Progress)

Well, no pictures yet, but I have been practicing my free motion quilting by quilting a different design in each 4-patch block of the blue/tan/white quilt.  I have 6 blocks left and then I hope to sew the binding on before Saturday.   We might be going to my SIL's house on Saturday and last week she was asking me some questions about how to quilt and bind a wallhanging kit she wasnts to make.  If I can get the quilting done, I'll take it with me to her house so she can see how the whole thing goes together.

After that quilt is finished, I plan to work on our bed quilt again.  It seems to take a lot more time to piece because I have to square up each block after each piece is added (the center is a large medallion star made up of eight diamond log cabin blocks - the diamond shape means I have to square things up to keep the correct angle for the next row.)  I've decided to start a crib quilt and use those pieces as my leaders-enders while working on our bed quilt.

Hopefully I'll have a few pictures of a finished lap quilt to show next post.

March update

I just realized it been nearly a month since I wrote anything on here so I thought it was about time for an update.  After all, what good is an online journal if you don't write in it?

Here are the blocks I made for the March Block Lotto.   I like how the pattern comes together and the block is really easy to do.  I am keeping this one in mind for a quilt to go on the guest bed, even if I don't win the block lottery.

In other news, well, there hasn't been much progress on the sewing front this month.   I did finally finish quilting and binding a small Advent Calendar wall hanging that I plan to use next Christmas.  Before it can be put away however, I need to decide on a way to hang it up.

I started work on the queen sized quilt I'm making.  I ordered the fabrics online last month, but after seeing them in person, I decided some of the tans were the wrong tone and I decided to use medium to dark blues instead of the light blues which I ordered.  I think I will put a lot more thought into my fabric choices next time I order online.

Once I got new fabric purchased and all the fabric was washed, I started to cut into it while watching TV in the evenings.  I figured it would be much easier to assemble the quilt if all the pieces were cut ahead of time.  Unfortunately, I really was not in the mood to cut that much fabric, (it took me 4 nights to cut it all) and I didn't pay attention to the pattern and I ended up cutting nearly all the blue pieces wrong.  Some of the pieces were salvageable, but once again, my impatience ended up costing me time and money to get additional yardage for all the blue fabrics.  

I still haven't dared to cut into the new blue fabrics.  I haven't really felt up to much sewing at all.   DH and I are expecting a new little one at the beginning of November and that has seemed to really drain my energy the last few weeks, not to mention the stomach virus going around our house.

Oh, I have started another project though.  All the scraps created from my cutting mistakes on the blue fabrics inspired me to start a long-term scrappy quilt.  I decided to use 2" hexagons and any pieces too small to be a whole hexagon will be cut into either 1/2, 1/3, or 1/6 of a hexagon and pieced together.   Right now I am just cutting out the pieces and haven't tried to sew anything together.  This will be a hand project  so that I can have something to take with me on road trips to visit the in-laws, and also someting to do while the sewing room/office is undergoing some construction.  My machine is setup in the basement and waiting to be used, I just forget that it is down there so that might be part of the reason I haven't done much sewing lately.

I think I forgot to mention the Quilt Outreach quilt-a-thon I went to back in February.   I was really kind of fun, even though I was only there for a few hours.  I think I counted 39 sewing machines (including Grandma's) in use and there were several other people helping to press tops and make sandwiches (including Mom, my little sister, and my cousin, Allison).   Maybe I can help out again sometime.