WIP Wednesday: Handwork

Hi! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm still trying to get back into my routine (and get some long overdue blog posts up), but I did manage to finish both my Convergence quilt and my Fading Star quilt, and it's so nice to have them done! More on those once I finish editing the photos. Since getting back from our travels, I've shifted my focus to finishing the low-volume log cabin quilt I led for the September block of the Emerge Circle of do.Good Stitches. The top and back are all done, and it's basted and ready for quilting!

I brought along a few handwork projects while we were traveling and had a ton of fun getting to work on them. I made some progress on my Catenary mini quilt and managed to finish another arch row -- just one more to go!

I also took my first shot at making hexies, and it's just as addicting as everyone said it would be. I'm excited to work on this while hanging out with the hubby, and it turned out to be a perfect flight project.

 
The neverending to do list:

Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
November Emerge Circle blocks
December Emerge Circle blocks 
Catenary mini quilt
Hexie mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday: Closing in on a finish

I am whipped from way too many late nights of sewing, but I'm getting so close to finishing my current projects. Actually, I did finish up my Convergence quilt earlier in the week, but lousy weather has meant I haven't taken any pictures yet. Soon, my friends.

But most of my time this week has been focused on the Fading Star quilt. In a whirlwind of nights, I finished the quilting and made the binding, so I'm this close to moving this baby to the done column!

I ran out of thread in the middle of quilting a few nights ago (drats!), and since it was too late to run to the store, I got back to working on my yet-to-be-named quilt from September for the Emerge Circle of do.Good Stitches. After figuring out a new layout, I made some really good progress on piecing the top, so I'm hoping to possibly finish it up this week, too! Looks like I have some more late nights ahead of me...

The neverending to do list:

Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
November Emerge Circle blocks
Catenary mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Thursday (a bit late)

I'm a bit late on this week's update, but that's how things go sometimes. My little guy turned four today, so it's been a busy week. But that's not to say I haven't gotten a ton of sewing done (mostly due to some very late nights, as you might have noticed from some of my IG posts this week). I bounced back and forth between the Convergence and Fading Star quilts all week. After asking for a lot of opinions, I decided to leave just the diagonal quilting (instead of making it a crosshatch), and now it's trimmed and ready for this super fun ombre binding.

Most of my time was spent on the Fading Star quilt, and I'm thrilled with how it came together. I finished the rest of the blocks, pieced the top and backing, and just last night, got it all basted, so bring on the quilting! This quilt required so much checking and checking to make sure everything matched up, so there was a whole lot of this

and this

to get to this

 
and this.

I have never wished for a design wall more. But now it's all done, and I'm so excited to see this one finished and do the big reveal!

The neverending to do list:

Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
November Emerge Circle blocks
Catenary mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Handmade Holidays 2015: Serving in style

Each November, Sew Mama Sew runs a series called Handmade Holidays. Each day of the month, a guest curator creates a list of links for tutorials, recipes, and free printables based around a different theme. I participated in the 2013 Handmade Holidays and was so happy to be chosen again this year! Today's my big day, so I hope you'll click on over and check out today's post, which is all about Gifts for Serving in Style (aprons, potholders, coasters, you get the picture). Hope you get some good ideas! (Pssst...SMS is also giving away a ton of prizes all month long, so be sure to check it out!)

Oh, and if you're coming over from Sew Mama Sew and are here for the first time, welcome! You can find quick links to many of my quilty projects and tutorials at the top of the page, and if you want to follow along, you'll find links to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Bloglovin' over to the right. I hope you'll take some time to look around!

WIP Wednesday: Pointy things

Funny, this week's post looks a lot like last week's, only everything's a bit further along. I haven't started anything new, thank goodness, but I'm trucking along on the Convergence and Fading Star quilts. I finished the backing for the Convergence quilt and, after much consultation with the hubs and fabric store coworkers, got started started on the quilting using some of the beautiful new Aurifil threads I won a few weeks back.

 

The quilting's all finished in diagonals one direction, but now I'm debating whether to do another round in the opposite direction to make a crosshatch. Thoughts? You can see the thread color gradation best in the second photo below. The lines are spaced a half inch.

I also finished two more blocks in the Fading Star quilt, though to be fair, one of the blocks isn't really a star, and I finished the cutting and planning for the rest of the quilt. See where I'm going with this yet?

 

And in case you missed it, I finished the reveal post for my Brass Ring baby quilt late last week. Such a happy quilt!

The neverending to do list:

Brass Ring baby quilt 
B's Halloween costume
Convergence quilt
Fading Star quilt
September Emerge Circle quilt
Catenary mini quilt
Jewelry travel pouch
Patchwork City sampler quilt 
Allie Owl quilt
Menagerie quilt
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
The Kittens quilt
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Spiced Chai quilt (from Vintage Quilt Revival)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote 
Clothing for me! (Washi Dress, Sailor Top Shirt, Sorbetto Top)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Happy Halloween!

A few days late, but Happy Halloween! I couldn't resist posting a few pics of B's costume this year. A few months back, when I asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, he told me a blueberry muffin. Hmmm... This is the same kid who last year said he wanted to be pumpkin pie (I eventually convinced him to be an ice cream cone instead). It took some coaxing again, but we eventually redirected and decided on the Cat in the Hat (which should have been an obvious choice since B is a humongous Dr. Seuss fan).

So I bought a boatload of red and white felt about a month ago, all set to make his costume. Then, the week before last, I got a text from my mother-in-law saying she'd seen a Cat in the Hat hat on the Target website and asking if she could buy it. After a brief pause in which I stupidly fretted over not making the costume myself, I realized I should just embrace the offer, let her buy it, and save myself an evening of not-so-fun sewing.

But then a week went by, and no costume. It was only available online, so I couldn't just go to Target to buy it, and I kept putting off making it, hoping the package would arrive. My MIL couldn't find the order email with the tracking number and basically became convinced she'd forgotten to order it after all.

So finally, we resigned ourselves to reusing B's costume from two years ago (which, to be fair, was a ridiculously cute fox costume, and which he didn't remember wearing because he was only two), but when we came home from a birthday party on Saturday (yes, Halloween day) morning, guess what was on the porch? The costume!

I headed downstairs to add a quick felt belly to a black t-shirt B had, and we paired the hat, tie, and gloves from the set with red sneakers, black pants, and some whiskers.

We joined some friends for a tasty dinner and then headed out into the misty evening for trick-or-treating and had a wonderful time. Another successful Halloween in the books!

Previous Halloweens:
2014 (ice cream cone)
2013 (hipster fox)
2012 (chicken)