List One

Totally busy, got tons on my plate and I can't focus on finishing ANYTHING.  Very frustrating.  I figured a list or two would help...True sign of a procrastinator..make lists instead of actual working on anything.

List One - Unfinished Sewing Projects

1. Miss Mae's Quilt - quilted and bound
2. The Boy's Quilt - borders added, quilted and bound
3. Muffin's Quilt - quilted and bound
4. Baby Quilt Tops - My sister just had twins, and I'm making the tops for their quilts.  Totally adorable.
5. Baby Gown - This one's super simple, will take maybe an hour to finish, just need to attach the top to the skirt, I've already finished one.
6. Carolina Christmas - I'm on Step 5 out of 7 - getting close!
7. Hanging Dishtowels - These were supposed to be Christmas gifts, but didn't get them done, now they're waiting...
8. Hugs - This is a string X quilt that I started, no real pattern - Just sort of followed a few tutorials - kind of.
9. Scrappy Log Cabins - These are 1" strips, paper pieced...Lost of fun.

That's it for now...later, another list!

Muffin's Trip Around The World

I finished the top top for the quilt I'm making for Muffin. I used Bonnie Hunt's pattern for Trip Around the World. Except I redid most of the math to make it finish the size I wanted, which is much smaller than her version. Muffin's four, so I hope its not too baby-ish. I was stash-busting again. It's all quilting cotton except the pink stripe - it's flannel.

Holy Wonky Rails Batman!

This is the top of the quilt I'm making for The Boy. 

Debating on adding borders.  I found a pattern for a wonky rail quilt somewhere and I tweaked it.  Its kind of a stack-n-slash method.  The rails are a mis-mash of cotton flannel and regular cotton.  My goal was NOT to buy anything for it, but to work on De-Stashing my Stash.  I like it.  I hope he does.

Scrappy Tic-Tac-Toe

So, here is my very first tutorial. Sophie dreamed this block for our January lotto. Her instructions are here. I simply modified her dream to suit me.

Scrappy Tic-Tac-Toe Block.


Fabric


• 4 – 1 ¼ x 12” strips of bright fabric (any width strip will work, but they should all be the same width)


• 3 pieces of background fabric at least 10” tall and the 3 pieces when laid side by side should be roughly 10” long.


1. Start by laying out the background and 2 of the strips as shown. Put the thinnest background piece in the center, with the wide pieces on the outside.

2. Sew the center background piece to the strips, pressing seam allowance toward the strips.

3. Sew the outside pieces to the strips as shown, pressing seam allowance toward the strips.

4. Trim! I like to trim the block down to 10” wide at this point. Save the end pieces to use in another block.

5. Now, turn the block so the lines are horizontal. Make a vertical cut, as wonky as you like, roughly near the center.

6. Insert a strip, pressing toward the strip.

 7. Now, you can make the last cut. Make sure you leave at least an inch between the two strips, so there is still visible background.

 8. Insert the last strip, pressing toward the strip.

 Now to clean it up!

I need an 8 ½” block. I trim the edge with the least amount of wiggle room first, and the trim the other edges.


Voila!

I found that by making one cut at a time I was better able to visualize the finished block.


Like I mentioned before, this is the first time I’ve tried to write instructions for anything, so please let me know if anything isn’t clear.

January Block Lotto

I joined the Block Lotto in August of last year, and have had fun making the blocks each month. This year starts a year of “liberated blocks.” January’s block is called Tic-Tac-Toe. Sophie posted the instructions here. I made the first few as she instructed, starting with a 10 inch square of background and making cuts to it.  After four blocks, I ran out of WOW fabric.  I'm not supposed to be spending any money on quilt stuff and I was NOT going to load up four kids and go to JoAnn’s for ½ yard of fabric, so I devised a scrappy method.   It worked, and I took pictures, so I’m going to attempt to write a tutorial. After lunch. When they’re all supposed to be resting.