Twinkle Twinkle

Well, I have been making blocks and more blocks!

First off I have been plugging away at the Celestial Star QAL.  Even if you don't quilt along I definitely suggest the pattern--it's so versatile and beautiful.  And I am a paper piecing fan so it's great.

Below is the centre of my test block, waiting for the rest of it.

And here is the finished product!  I didn't have enough of the ivory so I decided to use some neutral low volume prints for the backdrop.  I'm happy with how it turned out!  This baby is now basted (I'm testing out spray basting!) and ready to quilt.  I am going to attempt a spiral quilting design, I figured small was the way to go.  Also I think it would suit this block.  This will eventually be a pillow for my couch.

And here's our little rider fan.  Couldn't resist sharing this picture.  She's so tough to photograph now, always on the move!

Now below is the "real deal" block.  I'm planning on doing a whole quilt.  Although with the deadline to be done in September and me going back to work next week (*sniff* so not ready), I'm going to have to really grind it out.  Love it though!

That sucka is 24" so at least it doesn't take many to make a quilt.  I am thinking of doing a few of these and then finishing out with setting blocks so a)it's a little easier, b)the stars can really stand out and c)I can actually meet the deadline.

Lastly, it's my turn to be the queen bee, or whatever you wish to call it, of my online bee I'm part of.  It's worth checking out the inspiration for my quilt here!

First is the modified irish chain.  Check out the chubby little wrist that made a special appearance!!!

Second is the ribbon star block based on a tutorial by Lee at Freshly Pieced.

I'm excited to see what I get for this!  I will be making some more as well so that I can have a bigger quilt as, including my blocks, there will be 12 from the bee itself.  I'm thinking a total of 20 blocks for a 4x5 layout.

Hope everyone is having a delightful summer, and happy long weekend to those that get it (is it just a Canada thing?)!!

Celestial Star QAL

Considering I didn't do a lot, I think I still have quite a few pictures to share.

First off I made my second bee block for this month.  This block pattern really caused me trouble.  Not sure what it was but I had a tough time with it.  It should make a really neat looking quilt when it's all done though!

As for a finish, I made a dress for my little lady.  It used to be a skirt that I never wore so I cut it up to make a kind of pillowcase dress.  I used leftover fabric from my staple dress for the straps.  It fits fairly well but is shorter than I had anticipated.  Still pretty cute though!

Those blocks are waiting to be the last row in a quilt top, I'm excited to be done that top considering it has taken me 2 years so far.  Oops.  I just need to figure out the directionality and put it together.  Unfortunately in my zeal to finish this guy I got a bit laissez-faire with the piecing and now some of my hourglasses are facing the wrong way in the final product.  It bothers me, but not enough to do all that stitch ripping.  I'm hoping it'll be ok in the grand scheme, and the recipient will not mind.

I joined the Celestial Star QAL with from blank pages.  I have developed a great fondness for paper piecing, and I think that the block, along with its many possible looks is gorgeous.

My plan is to do a pillow for my couch, and then if it's not insurmountable I will also do a quilt top.  I did some colouring for the pillow (colours are way off but I only had highlighters at the time!).  I am making the 18" block for the pillow.

As you may guess from my fabric pieces I cut below, I have already strayed from my plan.  The centre star will all be one fabric instead of alternating.

This is the other fabric I have to go with the brown woodgrain.  My pillows will all be with these two, plus another aviary print.  But that's for another day.

Below I did some colouring to get the general idea of the patterns, using different colours when the time comes.  I used a permanent marker because it's all I had besides highlighters.  Oops.

below is my fabric pull for the quilt.  It's from the collection called Penelope.  I may pull a few other fabrics from my stash depending on how things go, but we'll see.   I'm planning to do  nine 24" blocks and I'll be picking out my favourite nine designs from above.  We shall see how things go!



This little peanut is 11 months.  I'm a little heart broken about that.  It's also almost impossible to get a good picture of her sitting still if she doesn't feel like it so the lighting is not so great in this shot.



Nana and Papa brought a couple little visitors that she fell in love with.

Looks like she's giving him heck here.

I'm linking up this post to the QAL at from blank pages.

WIP Wednesday, sort of

Contrary to the title, there isn't a ton of work in progress.

I have a bee block, pieces cut out, just waiting for me to pick it up again.



These blocks only needed to be pieced together and then added to the over half done top.



Aforementioned top is being carefully stored.



I decided to sort out my scraps, they were all mashed into one drawer.  But I didn't get enough buckets so that bag is holding more.  There is more than I thought!



I make a tank top!  It's from a pattern that came in the perfect pattern parcel 3.  It's called the Jorna Tank.  It's perfect because it's nice and long, loose, and swingy.  Although I prefer a little closer on the rib cage so I will make it again, and I may try altering the fit a bit.  Which is scary because I've just learned to follow a pattern, never mind change it.

Make up is for the weak?  Or less lazy.

Too many mosquitos to care about sun on my face.  Oops.

Back shots are awkward.

My husband told me I could use his credit card to buy fabric on the condition I make him a Star Wars bag.  Score!  So I hit up Hawthorne Threads and got some awesome stuff.  There's some Joel Dewberry, Up Parasol, Brambleberry Ridge (may have to get more, I love love love it!), Indelible,  and a few more.  Not pictured is the Star Wars fabric and some voile I got.

This didn't really show it off that well.

Abby figured she'd better get in there.

She liked this one a lot.

There, much better!

So I took it into the base of our picture window and that's much nicer.  So I guess my most productive WIP was stacking fabric.  I actually did make a bathing suit (whoa there) which turned out awesome but it looks kinda silly if you take a picture without a person in it.  So look out, but there will be--at some point--pictures of me in a [fairly modest] swimsuit.

Linking up to WIP with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday and a Flood

I didn't get much done this week. Things got a bit wet.  But here's what I did do.

I joined a quilt bee!  It's called We Bee Canadian.  I figured it'd be cheaper shipping if I found one that stuck in the country, no hard feelings to all the lovely quilters around the world.  I need to do 2 blocks, and I did technically, but the first one finished up 1/2" too small both ways.  Turns out my 1/4" piecing foot is off about a 1/16", which explains a lot!!

The pattern for this block comes from the Moda Bake Shop, and it's called Simply Woven.



I've been hanging out with this little imp.



And we got a bit of water.  We're lucky our basement is unfinished so not really a big deal.  But I really don't want a waterfall--soothing or no.  However, a lot of other places in our province got it way worse.  Roads have been washed out, homes destroyed, hospitals and towns evacuated.  So I'm pretty glad that this is all we had to deal with.  Here's some pictures to peek at--something else!



These videos are from my basement, just take a bit to load up.





Linking up to WIP Wednesday.