Done! Finished! Crossed off the UFO List!

I'm so happy to have this done!  I originally started it five {?} years ago as a block of the month at a not-so-local quilt shop.  I chose this colorway with the intention of gifting the finished quilt to my MIL.  I kept up with my blocks while the program was running, but when the shop was sold I fell off the bandwagon.  {the first owner gave the kits for the remaining blocks to the BOM participants when the shop sold} 

 Anyway, when I made my UFO list in January, I only had about six of these blocks put together.  This quilt had me doing my first ever set-in seams, as well as my first curved seams and first paper piecing. 

The first time I put the top together, it was so crooked, I had to rip apart the blocks, sashing, and cornerstones so I could better trim the blocks down to the same size.   It was a bloody masacre of points, but it had to be done since the bottom two rows were an inch+ wider than the top rows.  {sigh}  At least the top fits together now.

Here is a shot of the backing.  I thought about using the backing for the front border instead, so a strip of the cheater piecing and floral would frame the piecework, but decided to leave well enough alone, mostly because I would have been in need of new and bigger backing fabric.

I quilted it on my home machine, making a grid of straight lines.  And I am using the word 'straight' loosely. You see, I didn't mark the lines.  Instead, I just eyeballed it.  Sometimes my eyeball got a bit wonky  ;)

Well, it was an interesting challenge to work with fabrics I would never have choosen for myself, but after spending a whole lot of time with this quilt lately, I needed something a bit brighter.

Like this

Ever since my first glimpse of it, I've been determined to get my hands on some Happy Mochi Yum Yum  :)

I don't have any plans for it yet.  I bought one of each print so I could see the scale of the prints for myself, especially those two on the far right.  For some reason I expected them to be larger than they are.  

So, just incase you have been wondering about the scale of the Happy Mochi Yum Yum prints too, here are a couple photos to help you out :)

I hope you can read the tape measures well enough to get the idea anyway.  I'd make the photos bigger, but then they run over my side bar and just make a mess of the place ;)

Have a great weekend!

a finish (!!!) and a WIP

first, the finish:

It's a bag for holding all those plastic grocery bags, and it makes me ridiculously happy :)
I love the fabrics, I love how this type of useful handmade iteams are starting to pop up all over my house, and I love that those plastic bags are out of the fishtank. The boys are hoping this means we will be filling the tank with goldfish now :)

By the way, this was the bit of patchwork my machine ate a few weeks ago when it got hungry.  Remember that?  I do ;)

that is what it looked like when it was all flat  :)
I used a tutorial from the Moda Bakeshop to make my bag, but I did add an extra row of charm squares to make it longer (a 10 gallon fishtank holds a lot of bags, I wanted to make sure I had room for them all)

and the WIP?  a 62"x75" sampler I have been working on for ages for my MIL.

I had a few hours at home without the kiddos {!!!!} (don't get me wrong, I love 'em and all, but, you know...)  so I pulled my big ol' roll of batting out of the closet, a can of 505 spray and fix, and the top.  I decided this rare child-free time was perfect for basting because 1)  I needed to take over the whole kitchen floor, and 2) just incase anyone turned on a fan and accidently set off an explosion at least my kids would be safe, and 3)  if breathing the vapors caused any lasting damage, again, at least the kids would be safe

Does anyone else find the back of a 505 spray and fix can scary?  I ought to save that thing for Halloween.  "It was a dark and stormy night.  She reached for her can of 505 spray and fix ...."

I know, I know, I'm just a big chicken.  :)

Anyway, here this baby is all basted:

I think I'm going to keep it simple and quilt a grid of straight lines running horizontally and vertically.  Because I just. want. it. done.

So what have you been sewing on?
I'm linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Two link parties, one post.  It's kind of like that two birds, one stone thing, you know?  ;)
You can check out the buttons on my sidebar if you are so inclined.
Happy Tuesday/Wednesday to you!
And if you are wondering, my kitchen is still standing  ;)

a decision reached

Hello

I don't have any new pictures to share, just an update from last week's WIP Wednesday post.

I'll be spending alot of quality time with my seam ripper.  Once the blocks are apart again and I know what I have to work with, I'll decide where to go from there.  Pot holders aren't out of the question if it gets real ugly ;)     (just kidding, this is going to be a finished quilt if it kills me)

Thanks to everyone who offered their 2 cents last week :)
Happy Stitching 

Not So Happy Quilt Top

This is the last block for my BOM quilt.  And here are the blocks together with sashing and cornerstones:

I put this together a couple weeks ago, but everything lined up so poorly, I just set it aside.  I need to decide what to do with it.  The bottom row is 1/2" short on both sides, and there are a couple seam allowances that are too small. 

The blocks were supposed to be 12 1/2" unfinished.  The two with curved seams I had to trim down, so they were 12 1/4", but I didn't think it would be a problem.  Somehow, when I checked before sewing I missed that there were one or two larger than 12 1/2".  I tried to compensate for minor differances when joining to the sashing, but it didn't work.

I'm thinking it needs to be ripped out, but I really, really don't want to do that much ripping.  But if it needs to be done...

Alternatively, maybe I could try to stitch the scant seams deeper, drown any in question with Fray-Check, trim the outer sashing strips even with the bottom row, add the remaining borders, and hope the sweet lady I'm giving this to forgets to wear her glasses every time she looks at it?

a picture or two

I finished this three or four days ago, but haven't had a chance to show it to you until now. 

I've been using those short pins on the right for ages, but The Quilting Fairy used the long pins on the left when I asked for some help.  I've been using them ever since, because I can leave them in until the needle is right next to them, and still pull them out from under the presser foot.

I followed advice, and used a ton of pins(18ish).  By the time I was ready to sew them, my Grandmother's Fans had a bite an anglerfish would be pround of! :)

Happy Monday!

more blocks...

from the same Block of the Month Quilt.

I'm working on this quilt in two colorways.  The Thimbleberries version is going to be a gift, I don't know what I will do with the lilac version. 

Thank you everyone who left a comment, I was so excited to read your advice  :)

Hopefully, I will finish my tote bag and get a picture up here this weekend.  I have been making progress, but nothing photo worthy  :)