Quilter's Planner Cover

I recently had an opportunity to have a girls' sewing weekend with my friend Ms. E who came all the way from Geneva to hang out with me. As usual, there was lots of chatting and snacking with a little shopping & sewing thrown in. We decided our joint venture would be working on our Quilter's Planner covers.

We studied the over 300 pictures at #quiltersplanner on IG and got loads of inspiration and a couple of tips before getting started:
1. A pretty lace bra strap would make a good elastic closure
2. Since the cover fits quite snugly, one might benefit from adding 1/4" to the final size.

After lots of deliberation, I decided that Noteworthy would make a great choice for the main fabric. It's full of doodles, goals and bucket lists - perfect! For the front, I also decided to try a Butterfly Charm Block from Lillyella. I've been searching for a project for these cute butterflies.

Finished product!

For the back cover, I pieced in my label and here you can see the silky elastic strap. I don't know who makes their own bras, but I'm glad to have found this - and in a variety of pretty colors!

 Here you can see the leather bookmark.

 For the inside, we just went with simple slip pockets on the front and back.

Once my cover was complete, I realized that my Ipad would fit in the zipper pocket. The only problem was that I couldn't get it in through the zipper. Since I carry it all the time, I decided it was worth it to alter the zipper tabs a little bit in order to make it work.

Success!!

And here's Ms. E's gorgeous creation

 A sweet Liberty fox and a spool of Aurifil naturally!

We're proud to have added our covers to the (now) more than 400 #quiltersplanner posts! And here's a peek at my pattern in the Nov pages of the planner - so excited! All of the weekly blocks can be found here. thank you again to Stephanie for the opportunity to be published and for a great tool.

Dad's Quilt

That special birthday quilt mentioned at the beginning of the year in my Q1 goals was another great finish! I even almost delivered in time ;0). My dad turned 60 this February and I wanted to commemorate this big event with a special quilt.

I'd had several charm packs of Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Marks for a several months with this project in mind. Their decor is pretty neutral and I thought it would look great in the family room. After much deliberation, I decided to go with half square triangles laid out in an arrowhead pattern, Since the HSTs were to be sewn together in 4s, I did the 4-at-a-time method in constructing them. Boy, did this lead to some stretch!! 

The first time around, the borders were so wavy, I had to go back and start over. Thank goodness for friends who happen to be visiting who don't mind spending time with the seam ripper! Miss E took out my wavy borders and had me straight again in just one evening ;).

Miss E wasn't the only friend to pitch in on this one either! My friend Lee was kind enough to whip up an embroidered label for me and it looks fantastic. My disks for my embroidery machine accidentally went into storage when we came to Germany, and I haven't had the time to make new ones.

The quilting design was a separate challenge. I decided to go with a spiral pattern inspired by this one at 107 Quilts.com. I didn't want to quilt through the embroidery in the center because of the light background and brown thread, so I skipped it and did that separately. If I could do this one again, I would not have offset the beginning triangle because it made it difficult when I got to the center.

Eh, you live and learn and it came out fine in the end.

It finished about 70" and is the perfect size to snuggle up on the couch. 

Linking up on the windy side

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Noodlehead Divided Basket

Just before finishing that last pillowcase, I FINALLY finished this basket! I think it spent the entire last year on my FAL list with not much progress! Originally, I had chosen different fabrics with the intention to make it a new baby gift and fill it with baby goodies. Fairly Merry has definitely inspired me as she cranks out beautiful baskets like clockwork!

Once the baby shower passed and the moment was over, I changed over to some fabrics for ME! I used 3 different Kokka  fabrics from a website in China called Modes4U. Although they take a bit longer to arrive than I'm used to, the prices are much better than any shop I've found since moving to Europe, and they offer free shipping with a minimum order.  The cacti fabric on the pocket fabric reminds me of my Arizona roots.

My basket is happily holding all my bedside table junk and looking pretty! If and when I make another, I'll use a stiffer interfacing, but I really love this one! 

FMT

Squeaking in 1 last project - Updated photos!

Hallo friends! It's LATE as usual. But I've managed to get 1 more thing finished before the Q4 FAL deadline - whew! I'm really excited not to have to "roll" this one over to next year.
In my previous (non-European) life, I had a sweet neighbor who was a tremendous help in my attempts to learn knitting. She was always available to pull out all my wrong stitches when I'd go visit her with a problem. She was quick-witted enough to not become so distracted by my small talk that she'd redo any section and tough enough not to bend to my begging for her to just "finish my stupid scarf." It is because of Mrs. B that I am 4 inches of my own knitting into a scarf that was started in 2012 and may never be finished. Gotta respect her.
I wanted to make her a bag for her own stitchy projects, and it's been on my to-do list for quite awhile. Mrs. B adores her kitties, so I decided to use the Catvent pattern from Oh, Frannson!

 My cool kid thinks she belongs in every picture taken around here.

I started with a large catvent quilted front pocket with binding, and built the bag from there. The back features a paper-pieced letter "b" and straightline quilting. The fabric is a random assortment of modern charms, Kona ash, and the handles and lining are from a line called Silent Cinema. It has closure ties and finishes about 17" tall by 15" wide. I used light batting and a very light layer of interfacing so it would have a little structure, but I think next time I'll go a little heavier with it.

 I hope Mrs. B and her kitties like it! I should totally send her my lil' scrap of a scarf and see if she can be guilted into finishing it now ;)

Fmt

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WIP Weds ~ final bee blocks

Hello there! I am so happy to have finished up the last of my bee block commitments for awhile. A long while. A long, long, while.

First up, my hive in Stash Bee is completed this month. Our final queen bee asked for crazy quilt blocks in pastel/muted colors for her daughter's quilt. I raided my stash bin and (hopefully) found some fun fabrics for her. I also found a few novelty charms that fit the color scheme. Sara asked for an approximately 16" untrimmed block.

I can't wait to see her finished quilt! I was worried that my choices might be a little bright, so hopefully she can find something useful in this pile of accompanying scraps.

Finally, I'm participating in a Christmas block swap with a group from FB. We are using the You are Here Tute by Happy Zombie.

The finished block looks cool but it's pretty time consuming with the combination of HST, stitch & flip and flying geese blocks. Matching points are a challenge as is getting it to the correct size! I think the technical term for it is "fiddly" and there is lots of creative pressing going on around here. The other term for it is PITA, but I finished all 8 blocks.

I used Joy and Flurry charm packs  from Kate Spain. Seeing them laid out together makes me happy, but not motivated to ever make this particular block again, so I'll have to sash the heck out of the blocks I receive to get a throw sized quilt.

Now I'm working on my IGMini for the last swap of the year. The design is inspired by Lady Harvatine's log pyramid quilt. She hosted a quilt along last year and I really like her color choices!

The plan

The progress

linking up

WIP Weds

WOW ~ WIP Weds &

Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts

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Friday Night Sew-In

Have you heard of FNSI? Every 3rd Friday, Sugarlane Quilts hosts a linky party for people to sign up and then everyone posts on Saturday what they worked on Friday.  I thought it would be a fun and no-pressure motivation to work on binding my Garden Party.

With the company of Walter White, I got some binding done on Friday and then spent a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in the park with the kids plugging away. I really hate hand binding!! It takes me FOREVER!! I know I need to practice, but I don't have a rhythm so I have to check every single stitch to make sure the needle hasn't gone through to the front. What a pain!

half done but getting close!!
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Q4 - the 2014 Final List!

Hello again!

I'm pushing up against the deadline for posting my 4th quarter list! I've been so inspired by everyone's accomplishments this year and it's definitely fueled my motivation to  work on my own projects.

1. Finish Garden Party quilt

This one just needs the quilting finished and binding - finally!

2. Downstairs family room cushions

Given the amount of time they will spend on the floor, this will be a simple pattern for extra large cushions.

3. Supernova Friendship Quilt

My partner and I have completed our blocks and I'm anxious to see this one come together.

4. Wonky Pinwheel Quilt

This Stash Bee quilt is just waiting to be quilted and snuggled with on the couch.

5. I'm participating in the IG Mini Quilt Swap hosted by Curly Boy and the deadline is looming!

I figured out my palette and pattern and have been experimenting with my block idea. Just need to shrink it down and get it done.

6. Field of Iris quilt

I have been toying with patterns for this bundle for a very long time! I'd love to get this one finished this quarter. I'm thinking of this by Quilt Dad or a big plus pattern. I also love this one.

7. Catvent Knitting Bag

This will be a scrappy Christmas gift for a special friend.

8. Noodlehead Divided basket

I'm tired of listing this one, but I won't be defeated! Also, must stop using the interfacing for other projects and get it done!

wish me luck?
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3rd Quarter FAL results

Hi friends!

I tried to make a more manageable to-do list in Q3 and I enjoyed a few more finishes as a result! I'm sooo tempted to go crazy in Q4..
1. Finish flying geese improv quilt

 Status: finished!

2. Make 2 more pillows for family room couch

 Status: finished!

3.  Finish Garden Party quilt

 Status: Bordered added,back finished and quilting started

4. Downstairs sofa cushions

 Status: not started

5. Apron

 Status: finished!

6. Noodlehead divided basket

 Status: scared to start

7. Supernova friendship quilt
 Status: All blocks finished, time to put it together!

Next up: Q4!
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