January Bee Blocks

I've been busy all day trying to catch up on bloggy stuff.  Mostly Stash Bee stuff (have I mentioned that I'm the Hive Mama for Hive #2 in Stash Bee?).  Well, I'm finally all caught up and I thought I'd share the January blocks I finished for the bees I'm in.

For Rebeckah in Stash Bee:



For Megan in the BELIEVE circle of do. Good Stitches:





My blocks for Megan are all packed up and ready to be posted, I just have to find time to go to the post office!

In other news I'm going to a birthday party for my aunt tomorrow and have yet to make a present.  Let's see what I can get done last minute!  Woohoo procrastination!!!!

WIP Wednesday... er... Thursday

I had INTENDED to write this post yesterday morning but instead got caught up in a frenzy of cleaning house/ doing laundry/ baking bread/ making dinner that lasted until 8pm.  I am very happy to say though that while my Wednesday might have ended up sans-sewing and sans-blogging, I did get a LOT done, and it leaves me all day today to work on sewing projects.

Okay, onto the WIP Wednesday post!

I managed to get two of the WIPs on my list finished, as well as get 4 blocks completed for the December queen of Stash Bee.

Finishes from WIP list:

1. Repair Deacon Rick's Vestments (I currently need to cut new panels and then sew them in)  Done! (Completed 1/8/2013)

No pictures of this one.  I made a mistake cutting the lining of the vestment and then panicked.  By the time I figured out how to fix it and then actually got it fixed it was late at night and I just wanted to be done with it, so I wasn't really in the mood to try and set up a photo shoot.  It ended up being a good thing that I made the mistake I did, because the way I ended up fixing it looked much nicer than it would have looked if the way I was going to do it had worked the first time.

2. Finish sewing Steve's bookshelves (need to surge the edges and then make the fold-over pockets for the rods to go through) Done! (Completed 1/9/2013)

Here the bookshelves are installed in Steve and Jennifer's nursery

The seam where I had to sew two panels together

Stash Bee December blocks for Jackie (completed 1/15/2013):

I'm hoping to get my do. Good Stitches blocks done in the next few days, and maybe also a little free motion quilting using the Supreme Slider I bought back in September and still haven't had a chance to try out (why is it that September through December are always my busiest time of the year?)

"Finish"

If I had to pick a word for 2013 mine would probably be "Finish".

Image credit: PixelPowerDesign on Etsy

Looking back over 2012 I realized that I started a ton of things... and then never finished them.  When I came to that realization I decided that in this new year I was going to make a point to finish all the projects in my WIP pile.  I of course have many other resolutions but this is a big one for me in regards to my sewing and quilting.  I've even gone a step further and decided that until I've either finished all my WIPs or scrapped them permanently I will start no new projects.  The exception, of course, is stuff for the baby and gifts for birthdays and showers.... and curves class stuff (since I already paid for it).... and previous commitments like Stash Bee and do. good stitches blocks.

I know, I know, that's a lot of exceptions, but if you think about it it's still very limiting.  For example, I'm not able to jump on the trend and do any Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks, and I'm not able to do the Starburst quilt qal. 

Since I'm making the commitment to finish my projects I thought I'd go ahead and get something out of it (hey- why not?  I'm already doing all the work), so I'm joining up with the 2013 Finish-a-Long with Leanne from She Can Quilt.

My list of WIPs is pretty atrocious, but here we go:
1. Repair Deacon Rick's Vestments (I currently need to cut new panels and then sew them in)

2. Finish sewing Steve's bookshelves (need to surge the edges and then make the fold-over pockets for the rods to go through)

3. Sew Heike's dirndl (currently only cut out) (and can't find to take pics of-- eek!!)

4. Finish Mario blocks and turn into quilt

5. Do something with Polaroid blocks

6. Quilt Christmas tablerunners

7. Turn Stash Bee house blocks into quilt

8. Turn 12 days of Christmas blocks into quilt

9. Finish Solstice Stars blocks and turn into quilt (3 blocks finished, only 2 to go!)

10. Finish Sew Happy Geek QAL blocks and turn into quilt (I think 7 blocks are finished)

11. Quilt and bind "be Creative" wallhanging

12. Surge napkins

13. Turn Buhler's blocks into baby quilt (only have 6 blocks so far)

14. Finish Harriet's quilt blocks turn into quilt (applique on all blocks complete, but need to add some detail, then sash, border, sandwich, quilt & bind)(pic is just of the sashing, the blocks were tucked away and I didn't want to pull them out)

15. Finish brown and blue purse (need to attach hardware)

16. Bind red & black potholders

17. Sew green skirt (currently only cut out)

And I know these don't count for the finish-a-long, but each month I want to get all my bee blocks finished and mailed ON TIME.

Oh, and while we're talking about resolutions and stuff, I'd like to start using my stash more.  When I do need to start a new project I plan to try and use fabrics out of my stash and not just go out and purchase new fabric.

Okay, here we go.  Wish me luck!

(p.s. I plan on posting pictures of Christmas finishes soon.  Another resolution: blog about ALL my finishes)

August do. Good Stitches Quilt Finished

Way back in August it was my turn in my do. Good Stitches circle to be the quilter. That meant that I got to pick the blocks and the color scheme for the blocks we all did and in return it was my job to make sure that the blocks turned into an actual finished quilted quilt (for the post I wrote about what blocks I wanted see here).

I was supposed to finish quilting the quilt by the end of October but with the Sewing Summit in there and finding out about the baby I was a little distracted and so it didn't get finished in October.  And even though I wasn't feeling good for the majority of November I did manage to get the quilt finished up before the deadline for Rachel of Stitched in Color's Celebrate Good Stitches celebration.

August do. Good Stitches Quilt -- Quilted by Stephanie of Sewing by Stephanie

The quilting ended up being much simpler than I had wanted it to be, but at the time I was actually sitting at the machine quilting this was the absolute best I could do.  Even though I wasn't impressed with my quilting job, I'm still happy to know that the recipient of the quilt will love and cherish it (all of the quilts my circle makes are donated to "My Very Own Blanket" an organization that gives blankets to children in the foster care system)

August do. Good Stitches Quilt -- Quilted by Stephanie of Sewing by Stephanie

These photos were taken on a rare rainy day in southern California.  I managed to sneak outside before the rain started coming down to take these shots, but as you can see in the little bit of sky pictures in the photos the sky does not look very happy.

But let's rewind a little bit.  Remember a little bit ago when I mentioned Rachel of Stitched in Color's Celebrate Good Stitches celebration?  Well, my circle didn't choose the quilt I quilted as our one quilt to submit for the contest, instead we chose this beautiful quilt quilted by Jenn of Knotted-Thread.  And guess what? We're currently in 2nd place!  So if you have a moment and haven't already voted please go over and consider voting for our quilt (or consider going over and voting for whatever quilt you think should win!).  Click here to vote!

October do. Good Stitches Quilt -- Quilted by Jenn of Knotted-Thread

 Thanks!

I'm Making Something Extra Special!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been gone so long from the blogging world.  I have a good excuse though--  I've been busy making something extra special!  A baby!!!

That's right! My husband and I are happy to say that we're expecting our first baby this summer.  My first trimester has been full of sickness and I've been dog tired, but I'm just now coming out if it and I'm happy to say that I've been feeling a lot better and am finally able to spend some time in my sewing room again.

Hopefully I'll be back to having quilty photos for you soon, but in the mean time here's a different kind of photo to enjoy!

This pic is from my ultrasound 3 weeks ago

Custom Bunting Quilt on Etsy

Hi Everyone!

I've been busy here the last few days working on a custom bunting quilt commission that I got on Etsy.  I finished it up yesterday and sent it off this morning.

Instead of the green/ blue/ yellow color scheme that I normally make these in I did this one in blues and yellows.  I personalized it for it's lucky new little owner-- a little boy named Thomas Henry who was just born last week.  I hope he loves it and gets lots of snuggles in it.