Let me esplain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

This little old blog has been collecting dust.  Much has happened since my last post: we took the kids on vacation to several national parks and to a family reunion; my husband and I went to Bavaria and Prague; I ran a half marathon; I went back to work for 4 months then "retired" again because we moved to Texas; more travel after our move to Texas, and the little one started kindergarten.  This left so little time for blogging.

Now that you're caught up, here's a quick rundown on the status of things I was working on and finished, or started and completed since the last post in May:

My "41" quilt, which was my epic Sis Boom fabrics project, which I finished and it lived on my bed until we moved.  It has since been appropriated by Martina for her bed, since she claims it looks better in her room than in mine.  Here it is looking gorgeous on the lawn:

My Delectable Mountains quilt top for do. Good Stitches was pieced together at a retreat in June.  Quilting it is at the top of my sewing list.

My Friendship x and + swap blocks were temporarily lost, then found again, as I was unpacking my sewing paraphernalia after the big move.  Hooray!  I finished all 64 blocks and sent Jennifer her half. Jennifer finished her quilt (see her beautiful work here) while I completed my quilt top.  Pardon the grainy photo... I took it with my iPhone, which got wet when I slipped into a creek on a hiking trip this summer.  It hasn't taken a good photo since.

I participated in *a few* swaps.  It got to the point where my whole family was exasperated that I would start another swap item immediately after finishing one, and my little one was ever on the lookout for a swap package delivery from the postman.  I won't post photos of all of the completed swap projects because they are so numerous, but you can find them on IG (I'm @little_mama_d) if you have the inclination and patience to scroll through my feed.  Here are a few of my favorites:

I designed and made this mini quilt for the #AnnaMariaHornerMiniQuiltSwap on Instagram .  It was terribly hard putting this one in the post.

This mini and zippered pouch were designed and made for the #cottonandsteelminiquiltswap on IG:

This mini was designed (loosely based off of Aunt Rachel's Star quilt block) and made for the IG #rainbowminiquiltswap.  This was the first time I'd used variegated quilting thread.  I will definitely be using it again.

I hope you enjoyed this little recap of my makes over the past year.  Have you participated in any swaps lately?  What is your favorite swap item that you've made?

Taking shape

I'm having a bout of quilter's ADD this week.  I'm actively working on these four quilts, going back and forth as the mood strikes.  This means that quilt backs, batting, fabric scraps and sewing paraphernalia litter just about every available surface in the living room and mudroom (aka my sewing room).  There are also a sink full of dishes and an overflowing basket of clean laundry- two loads worth, waiting to be folded.  But what is housework when there's sewing to be done?

Today I think I'll work on Vintage Stars.  The back is pieced:

 
I'm going to try my hand at thread basting this quilt.  It seems like that would go much quicker than pin-basting, and I'll try anything to save my finger tips from getting pricked a hundred times. 

And while I'm shuttling kids to various activities this afternoon, I'll bring along Marcelle.  Progress is slow on the center medallion, which I'm EPP'ing.  After a few false starts where my stitches were showing through the front using a whipstitch, I found Lori's helpful tutorial using the ladder stitch.  The result is much neater for me.

However, sewing and housework both will have to wait.  The little one has decided it's time to put together his large floor puzzle of the United States.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Progress

I've been working in earnest on Vintage Stars (from this publication) and 41 this week.  At my guild's Sew Day over the weekend, I managed to sew the binding onto 41, as well as make significant progress sewing star blocks together.   After much sewing, un-sewing and re-sewing last night (I kept pinning the rows together the wrong way), the Vintage Stars top, my first attempt at piecing a quilt on-point, is finally done:

Absolutely adore the Rosette collection by Juliana Horner but I snuck in a couple of Garden Party blocks, just because.

The 41 quilt will be finished by the weekend, which should satisfy my hubby.  It drives him crazy to see so many unfinished quilts about the house.

On your marks...

After a pretty but challenging Sunday morning hike in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve (note to self: hiking downwards at the beginning of a hike means hiking upwards on the way back) I decided to take it easy the rest of the day and mark the quilting lines on my "41" quilt.  I think the uphill hike was less frustrating.

Have you ever used Clover water soluble pencils?  I used them for the very first time marking this quilt, and I think I spent more time sharpening the pencils than I did marking the lines.  The lead kept breaking below the shaved area.  See the blue bit of lead in the upper left side of the bowl?  There are countless more, of both the blue and pink variety, buried under those shavings. 

Even with a light hand and barely sharpened point, the lead kept breaking and popping out.  The pink pencil was worse than the blue.  I marked 40 lines with each pencil and here's what the pencils looked like when I had finished:

 

I wrote a nice, diplomatic email to the company describing my experience with their product.  Not sure what they can do about it, but I thought they should know. 

On the bright side, I've finished marking the quilt top and can now move on to basting.  Did I mention that at 68" x 76", this quilt is the largest I've made?  I'll be spending the better part of the day on the floor pin basting.  Guess that's not such a bright side after all.

A finish and a fail

Of all the charity quilts I've made, this Sorry! inspired Goose Creek quilt is by far my favorite.  It's hard to part with, but knowing that a child in need will find some comfort in it lessens the sting. 

 

The ladies of the Love Circle (of do. Good Stitches) did an amazing job making these blocks, and I adore the end result.  I always thought I liked modern quilts, but this one feels very vintage-y and I'm completely charmed by it.  In fact, after I wrap up a couple of other projects, I think I may make another to keep.

After finishing Goose Creek earlier this week, I intended to piece the backing for Kieran's brick quilt.  An error in calculations held this process up last month, a fact I conveniently forgot.  Since working on K'S quilt calls for a fabric purchase, I decided to move on to "41."  The back was carefully cut and methodically pieced last night.  After pressing the new backing, I laid it down over the quilt top and... something's rotten in the state of Denmark. 

The backing is a full 17 inches too narrow.  I ask you... 17 inches???  Not to mention the major puckering in the middle of the quilt top (see how lumpy it is under the backing?).  Will it quilt out?  I don't even know.  I have a horrible feeling that when I make the quilt sandwich, no amount of smoothing will make it lie flat.  There is most probably some painstaking un-sewing in my future.   

A tardy, yet timely finish

Yesterday afternoon the final strip of fabric was stitched onto my late (that's 1 year, 6 days late) birthday present to myself. 

 A week before my birthday last year, I decided to make a quilt log cabin quilt with 41 "logs", one for each year of my life.  This was the perfect number for a giant courthouse steps block- 10 logs on each side with a large rectangle in the middle (which I counted as one of the logs).

Going by quilter's conventional wisdom, I gave myself a year after the intended birthday to gift it to myself.  I finally started the thing a couple of weeks ago.  And so now the quilt top is double belated- six days later than the original one year grace period.  Sad face.  

The quilt top is, however, an early finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  Happy face!  Behold my March entry for ALYOF:

At 62" x 76", this is the largest quilt I've made so far.  What to use for the back is a huge question mark.  Should I be a Paganelli purist and only use Sis Boom fabric?  Should I use something I absolutely love, Sis Boom or not?  Decisions, decisions.

Since there's still quilting and binding to be done, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, as well as to A Lovely Year of Finishes at Fiber of All Sorts.  Check out both of these linky parties for some lovely quilty inspiration!

Under the wire

Only one more day until the quilt (at this point, quilt top) that I promised myself a year ago is due.  If I work very industriously today, it just may be done by end of day.  Working in my favor is the threat of rain- great excuse to stay home.  However, it's early dismissal day, so the older kids are home right after lunch and I can't send everyone outside to play.  Then there's dinner to be made, a soccer meeting and the general daily chaos of having three kids.  Curses!

And curse Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth edition).  I had time carved out Monday evening, but I made the mistake of turning on the television and stumbled upon the P&P mini-series marathon.  There went my sewing time!  For me, Colin Firth is the quintessential D'Arcy, so this version of Pride and Prejudice will win out against sewing every time.

So now I'm racing against the clock to finish up my "41" quilt before the stroke of midnight.  Here's the requisite photo of the work in progress (horrible lighting due to overcast skies):

 
Look at all that Sis Boom prettiness.  So happy to finally cut into these gorgeous Jennifer Paganelli prints. I love how the different collections play nice together!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  I highly encourage you to check out what other quilters are working on this week!