A different kind of Wednesday WIP

Welcome to those visiting via Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday!

As a precursor to finished quilts, one must have fabric.

Kona Ash and White.  Basics.

Ingredients for pillows for the master bedroom to accompany the new quilt.  Yes, I agree, the green is not the right color.  Oops.

Yellow and grey combinations....not tired of this yet.

I thought I was buying wolf fabric....until I read the selvage...Fox in Sox.  Oops again.  But still really fun.

Backing and binding for a very special quilt.

Owl be talking more about this soon.

The above fabric purchases are a result of coupons and sales at Joann Fabric, the fabric outlet at Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH and the March Madness sale at Fabric Corner in Arlington, MA.   My mother would be quite pleased with this bargain shopping!

Thanks for stopping by!

Snowy Friday Finish

Another snow storm, another day for sewing!  The queen size quilt top is completed.  I do love the colors (even if the inside picture does not do it justice); Renee said it reminded her of seaglass...love that!

I promise better pictures!  Again, the pattern is Garden Trellis from Fresh Lemon Quilts.  Next steps:  need to make an interesting backing and decide on game plan for quilting.

My sister just renovated her kitchen, so of course she needed a new table runner and coasters:

I had so much fun quilting this little table runner!  The table runner pattern is from Little Charmers II by Heather Mulder Peterson using charm squares.  You may recall this pattern from this wine themed table runner.

Before the blizzard arrived yesterday, I made an emergency trip to my LQS and picked up some nice additions to the fabric collection:

 I'm not typically attracted to the "cute" fabric, but this collection was just calling me.

And I love the color combinations in this collection and all the lovely baby size quilts that people have been making with this!

A lovely end to a lovely day:

Linking up with Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday!

Progress on THE Big Quilt

This has been a busy few days away from the sewing machine.  But I am making progress assembling the queen quilt top:

From the beginning of this quilt adventure (a little more than one year ago), I have been fascinated by the challenges of the quilting stage.  From flowers on my first finished quilt

to wavy water on water lilies:

to Woodstock's flight pattern:

straight lines:

and all over squiggles!

I have to say I really do love working on the quilting!  Despite periodic hiccups by the sewing machine (or possibly the sewing machine operator??), wrestling the larger projects through the machine harp, and speed calibration issues (feet vs hands!) it has been great fun doing my own quilting.  But I have also learned that I need A LOT more practice!

I participated in one FMQ'ing class last year that used this book and covered the basics of batting, thread, needles with a little time on the machine.  Mostly, I have learned from all you quilters who so generously share tutorials and inspiration.  For example:

• Straight line quilting thanks to Nicole from Mama Love Quilts
• Leah Day's blog Free Motion Quilting Project
• Elizabeth Hartman's Quilting Basics and Orange Peel pattern
• Video tutorials by Melissa at Happy Quilting
• And so many others!

Angela Walters Free Motion Quilting book is my go-to right now for ideas.  My quilting experimentation continues with various combinations of sewing feet, thread, needles, patterns, etc.

To be honest, sometimes FMQ'ing can also be frustrating with thread breaks and poor tension.  So, I decided to take a free motion quilting class at the shop where I bought Helga, my Viking Sapphire to ensure I was using the machine correctly.

(Sorry for the light thread on light fabric!)  It turned out to be very useful to get advice on quilting on my machine from the folks who sell the brand.  So much fun!  Now only if I could do this on something larger than a fat quarter!

Having said all this, I still have every intention of deferring quilting the queen size quilt until I get more practice on smaller projects!  Wimp right out...yup I'll admit it.  That's me.

Have a great day!  Linking up with:

Bedroom Blocks Built

I love the efficiency of chain piecing:

...and the pile of pieces that build up behind the machine.  I am making a queen size version of Faith from Fresh Lemons Quilts Garden Trellis pattern for our master bedroom.  All 40 blocks are complete:

I just love all of these fabrics individually; I hope I love them together!  So, I have started to play with the layout on my design floor (with the inspiration fabric behind):

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilt's Finish It Up Friday!  Another amazing source for inspiration!

Back to (Sewing) Business

The sounds gurgling out of my sewing machine(after its annual tune up) have improved a bit after much fidgeting with the bobbin case.  The stitches look fine so I carry on!

Back to the Scrappy Trip quilt...finished the final 10 blocks to make 30.  That should do the job!

I centered a low volume row in each block.  We'll see how that works!

Yesterday I gathered the nerve to cut into a large, lovely pile of fabric that I have been collecting for a queen size quilt for our master bedroom.  A big and important project!  I think it is a good sign when the pile of selvages are so pretty!

Phew!  Time to sew all this together!

And finally, my husband brought these back from a visit with his mother:

Just a few cute little dish washing clothes that she whipped up!

Wishing you a good week and linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday...the source of much inspiration!  I highly recommend a visit!

PS  Thanks everyone for all the nice comments on my Sewing Room Progress post!  I will keep you posted as I keep working on it!

Sewing Room Progress

As I have been sans-sewing machine this week, I have not been able to finish any projects.  So, I thought this would be a good time to share with you the progress on my sewing room (WARNING:  lots of pictures).  First, the BEFORE pictures:

This is the OFFICE/guest room/sewing room before its conversion to my SEWING ROOM/office/guest room.  It is a small-ish room, about 10X12 foot, right off the kitchen, highly visible.  This room worked great for an office and the occasional guest room.  But now that having an office is less important and space for sewing is VERY important, it was time to update!  Say goodbye to the dark colors, knot of wires and cords, shaky folding table under the sewing machine and heavy oak furniture!

The AFTER picture!  This is the new view when you enter the room.  Fresh paint, new floors and light furniture make quite a difference!  The furniture is IKEA with the only remaining carryover piece being the surprisingly comfortable sleep sofa.  Given the leather colors of the sofa, I went with a grey/taupe for the walls and a gold/yellow accent color.  

I made these window treatments from home dec fabric on sale at Joann Fabrics.  I love the clean, modern look of these tab back curtains.

This little ironing table has been a great addition to the room.  Lots of tutorials on the web for this.

Simpler office.  Space to the left of the sewing machine for larger projects.  Large bulletin board.  Shelf for stuff.  I even think some of my Longaberger baskets work in the new room. 

 Below is the office part of the room, down sized but still effective.

Fortunately, we already had the IKEA bookcase and the two CD racks and just needed to purchase the table tops, legs and chairs.  

Don't you think the wall above this sofa is just screaming for a quilty wall hanging???  And,finally, a close up of where the action happens.  I love the little shelf with all my rulers.

I have just loved, loved having this little room to play in.  Linking up with Crazy Mom's Finish It Up Friday!

Wednesday Frustration

I have no new projects to show you this week as my one year old Viking sewing machine has been in "the shop."  I picked it up tonight right before the store closed.  That's the good news.  The bad news:  Should my sewing machine sound significantly WORSE after its annual tune up?  I'm SO irritated.

Breathe...breathe.  

Forget all that!  I had a fantastic weekend with all our kids celebrating my husbands birthday!

Snowshoeing across the lake.

 

What a lovely couple!

Sorry gang, that's all I got this week.