Are we there yet?

As the school year marches inexorably on, I find myself asking my kids "When did you say is the last day of school?"  I'm wilting in the heat and am looking forward to being able to take a family trip to the coast, if even only for the day. 

Luckily, I've got a few things to keep me busy.  The garden, for one.  I won't go into details, but anyone who's curious can read about it here.  Also, the fabric for Kieran's quilt is cut and just needs piecing.  But first, a gift from a stack of orphan blocks: 

These were part of an "A-Z" quilt-along my local quilt guild hosted, in which we made blocks with names that begin with each letter of the alphabet.   I abandoned this for other projects.  It's so nice to be able to put the blocks to use, as they really are sweet.  And, though I didn't quite make it through the alphabet, I have the perfect amount for a baby quilt, with three to spare for the back.

That's what I'm working on this WIP Wednesday.  What's on your sewing table?

WIP-ing right along

As the week creeps towards the Labor Day holiday (and therefore the end of the month), my thoughts turn to monthly bee and swap commitments.  I've worked on a few ahead of time, but there are a couple of (really) tardy items.  Yep- there will still be that mad scramble to finish a few things, but at least I can count them all on one hand this time!

I had started my Love Circle Swap item a little over a week ago, but I needed to purchase more Essex linen to keep things moving along.  My partner wanted bright colors and listed stars among her likes.  I started with the Reverse Rainbow Star tutorial from Kat of Diary of a Flutter.Kat, made a few minor adjustments (all I did was make use of hourglass blocks and omit a row and a column, really) and voila:

 

All that's left is sewing everything above into a pouch.  My unnatural fear of installing zippers has had me poring over zippered pouch tutorials the past couple of days.  Hopefully, I've armed myself with enough knowledge to tackle the zipper without making a mess of things. 

In my previous post, I set a rather lofty goal of piecing eight A-Z Quilt-Along blocks at Sew Day over the weekend.  Even with pre-cutting the fabric, I only got through four in four hours:  Irish Chain, Jack in the Box, Memory and Louisiana. 

I skipped right over "K"- hadn't even picked a block, so now a little backtracking is required.  In fact, that's my strategy for being current for the next guild meeting.  I'll piece the "W" and "X" blocks and go backwards from there. 

Finally, I pieced blocks #3 and 4 for the Vintage Holiday Quilt-Along.  These blocks are pleasantly easy to make.   

Now that Pure Elements in Mystic Grey is finally in my hands, Martina's Poetica quilt will be added back into the ever-growing WIP rotation.  There may even be a progress report on it next Wednesday!

Linking up to W.I.P Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

 

Weekend Sewing

The first week of school has positively flown by!  Other than the Urgent Care visit, it's been a quiet week.  I was sorely tempted to do lots of sewing during down time, but housekeeping duties called.

Included in this was a little stash organization (again).  I realize that, though my stash is nowhere near as bountiful as many other quilters, there are still some things lurking in my stash that I probably will never use.  It's amazing how much my tastes have changed in the past year. 

Housekeeping aside, I made a bit of progress on my Love Circle swap project.

Progress came to a screeching halt when I miscalculated and cut the side strips the wrong length.  The Essex linen was leftover from a previous project, and the mistake necessitates a fabric-buying trip (!).

I also jumped right into the Vintage Holiday Quilt Along.  Blocks #1 and #2 are finished:

Block #2 was originally made with Kona Clover and Medium Gray parallelograms.  It felt dull, so I remade the block with Kona Snow and Spruce (I think).  Much better!

In other sewing news, I'm reviving my A-Z Quilt-Along project.  I left off several months ago after finishing my H block, and the rest of the group have zipped along to V.  I am fourteen blocks behind!  Make that sixteen blocks- W and X are due at the next BA Modern quilt guild meeting.  My plan is to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening prepping fabric for blocks I-P.  I hope to piece eight of the sixteen blocks at the guild's Sew Day tomorrow and, time permitting, make some headway on my swap project.

Have a great weekend!

Habitat Challenged

     This Habitat challenge is not quite working out the way I planned.  My great idea was...well, was not so great.  The plan was to discharge color from half of each fat eighth we were given and choose a simple design to highlight the results. 

     Here's what the fabric looked like after 20 minutes in my washing machine with a weak bleach and water solution, then a spin in the dryer:

The moss color turned to amber, and the aqua faded a teeny bit.  Aside from that, there was no perceptible change.  I threw a few of the pieces into my kitchen sink with a much stronger bleach and water solution, swishing them around for about 10 minutes.

The colors faded a bit more, but not to the degree I was expecting.  Of course, had I accidentally spilled bleach in the washer while pre-washing the fabric, there would have been all kinds of discharging going on!   
 
     Either the colors weren't saturated enough before the discharging experiment, or the fabric was treated to hold color.  Whether one, the other, or both, I've got to think of something fast- there's less than 2 weeks before the next BAMQG meeting.

     Speaking of BAMQG, I've also got to make my blocks for the A-Z Quilt-along.  We're on "E" blocks, but I've fallen a little behind.  So it's "D" and "E" blocks, plus my Habitat Challenge project by next Saturday.  I'm hoping the quilting gods will smile down upon me this week.    

First Quilt-Along

     Having joined the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild this summer, I'm excited to participate in my first quilt-along.  I'm not sure if there is an official name for it- I think we're calling it the A to Z Quilt-Along.  In a nutshell we sew a block (or two) a month, each month having a designated letter.  The fun begins by scouring books or the web for blocks beginning with the designated letter for the month.
     My color palette is yellow, pink and orange.  I've chosen Jennifer Paganelli's "Honey Child" line as the inspiration fabrics, and supplemented with a few others:

     [The fabrics are, from top to bottom: Honey Child Flourish Papaya (Jennifer Paganelli), Weekends Hopscotch Butter (Erin McMorris), Honey Child Blooms Papaya, Girly Girl Berry Whispers (Art Gallery), Weekends Hopscotch Pink, Trick Or Treat Orange (Riley Blake), Kona Curry, Honey Child Abstract Orange, Queen Street Maeve Fuschia (Jennifer Paganelli), Kona Pomegranate.]
     We're currently on C blocks for August.  [Edited 8/7- we're actually on "B" blocks.  I got ahead of myself.]  At the suggestion of one of the BAMQ guild members, I purchased Judy Hopkins' 501 Rotary Cut Blocks.  I love that this book has pictures of the blocks in alpha order at the front if the book.  It also gives measurements for multiple sizes.  The only drawback is that there aren't explicit instructions on how to make the blocks.  You also have to do a little extra math if you want to speed cut and piece (e.g. quick piecing multiple HST's from larger squares or strip piecing).
    Below are the blocks I've got so far:

Antique Tile Block

Bachelor's Puzzle

Castles In Spain