WIP Wednesday 7-18-12

It's been so hot, I honestly cannot believe I've managed any sewing this week!  I took a looksie at our thermostat last night (@ 10:00pm mind you) and it was still 90 degrees - in our house!!  Now I truly do not mind not having air conditioning but at that time of night it should be cool.

Finished

• The Sherbet Quilt - Yay finally done!!  See more here.

• Quilting for a Cause Block - First, check out this great Flickr group Diane started.  It's a hub to volunteer (or find volunteers) to make quilt blocks for good causes.  This block is headed to Marika for  a quilt she's putting together.

In Progress -

•  July Bee Blocks - I finished my Heal @ do.Good Stitches blocks for Manda.  She asked us to make Ribbon Star blocks.  I love the finished look but there is a lot of piecing for each one!!  Now I just need to start/finish my Stash Bee blocks.

New -

• Sew Intertwined Quilt-a-Long - SO excited for this QAL to start!! I'm thinking about making mine out of Flea Market Fancy...



I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced! 

Try to stay cool today :)

Sherbet - A Quilty Finish

This quilt is finally finished!!  Oh this quilt - I'm so happy to have it done.  I (crazy person) was a bit overambitious in choosing a pattern with rectangular blocks made up of two sizes of triangles to be the second quilt top I made.  Yep, second.  I've had the top for this quilt done for that long!  It was really challenging for me to piece so I was ready for a break once it was done.  Apparently a very long break!  Then I added it to my finish-a-long list and decided to get it done this weekend.

Sherbet

I did get it done but not without more headaches!  Seriously though, I quilted the ribbon my scissor snips are on into the back.  Then my thread kept breaking, then there were puckers, then I didn't have enough of the planned fabric for the binding and a host of other things.  But, it was totally worth it because now that it's done I LOVE it!

The pattern is Not All Quilt Blocks are Square.  I made the extra large lap size.  All of the fabrics on the front are from the Jenean Morrison Wild World line.

I'm not sure what the binding print is, just something I had in my stash.  The backing is a soft buttery yellow.  This quilt was quilting with all over loops; a design that has quickly become my favorite!

It's already made it's home on the couch - now if the temperature would drop below 90 I could actually use it!

Linking up at Sew.Happy.Geek's Manic Monday and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Hope you're having a great day!


**10/2/12**
This turns out to be the only project from my Finish - A - Long list that got finished! I love it dearly and have been snuggling up with it on the couch at night.  Linking up at the Post-Third Quarter Link Party.

Happenings

Did everyone have a nice weekend?!  I actually finished a quilt this weekend!  It's in the washer now and is going to the dryer for some crinkling when I get home from work today.

I also learned this weekend that I'm not very accurate with my distance "guesstimates".  The hubs and I needed to run 13 miles on Sunday for our marathon training.  I told him I knew exactly how we should go, it would be so scenic through the National Park, loop back to the car, have some hills, blah, blah, blah.  Then we got lost, we ran out of water, and by the time we made it back on track and finished our 13 mile run we had to walk two and a half more miles to get to the car.  Longest walk EVER! 

I have a tutorial up over at Sew Festive Handmade today as part of the Christmas in July series!  Be sure to stop over and see how to make the Stacking Gifts Wall Hanging.  Bianca from Sweet Diesel Designs has a very cute pillow tutorial up today as well.


Stacked Gifts Wall Hanging

The Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop is still in full swing!  Here's who will be sharing this week:

July 17

    Katie from Kati's Quilting

    Claire from Sewing over Pins
    Caroline from Quilting in the Cold

July 19

    Jamie from Sweet Baby Jamie

    Janine from Rainbow Hare Quilts


Also, one of the blogs I read regularly, The Moden Balabusta, has hit 100+ posts!  Be sure to stop by and check it out.  Lisa makes some awesome quilts and we were both in the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL together.  I was even the lucky winner of the 100th post giveaway :)

Lastly, if you don't have enough projects already, there's a new quilt-a-long, Sew Intertwined, that you should consider joining!  Jenna & Melissa just announced it today and I can't wait!!  The quilt is such a great design - be sure to check it out!!

Have a great week everyone!!



Finish - A - Long Quarter 3

I've been meaning to join the quarterly finish-a-long that Rhonda sponsors over at Quilter in the Gap since the beginning of the year but I always miss the link up.  This quarter I remembered!  Plus I have lots of unfinished projects that need to be done before I start more so this is the perfect motivation.

Here are the three projects I'm trying to finish this quarter:

1) My quilt from the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL - I love this quilt!  I finally bought the backing so now I just need to decide how to quilt it and then get to work.

2) The Sherbet Quilt - I don't think I've ever even shown pictures of this on the blog - that's how long it's been lingering!  It's the second quilt top I made and the first out of quilt shop fabrics but I fell less in love with the longer I worked on it so it got put in a pile.  I have the backing and binding cut I just need to quilt it and be done!

Our poor grass :(

3) Swoon Wall Hanging - I made this block as a test before I decided to make a whole swoon quilt.  It's going to be a wall hanging.  I have it all basted and did a bit of hand quilting on it, didn't like that, so I need to rip that out, machine quilt it and call it a day!

Linking up at the Quarter 3 Finish-a-long post.  Now I'm off to go baste the Sherbet Quilt!! 

Fat Quarter Idol ~ Beach Blanket Bingo

Sew, Mama, Sew is having another great Fat Quarter Idol contest and I just couldn't resist joining in. 

You can read all the details here and find out how to make your own pinboard to enter!  You can see my pinboard entry here and follow the links on each pin to each fabric listing in case you want to add some to your stash :)

It was so tough to pick just 12 fabrics to make into a beach blanket!  I saw the new Hope Chest line and fell in love with the main blue floral.  Using that as the focal print I picked 11 coordinating prints to bring out all of the different colors.  It has vintage/retro vibe to me, which I love! 

All pictures are from the SewMamaSew shop HERE

Leave the link to your pinboard if you make one - I'd love to see everyone else's (and follow you on Pinterest of course)!

W.I.P Wednesday 7-11-12

Well it's been a while since I've done one of these!  I'm going to do a quick little recap of the past few weeks since the last time I posted a WIP Wednesday was in May - eek!

Finished-

• Blissful Birthday Quilt - Finished, gifted, blogged and loved :)

• June Bee Blocks - Finished my blocks for the Heal @ do.Good Stitches group & my Stash Bee Hive

Heal @ do.Good Stitches

Stash Bee

New/In-Progress -

• Christmas in July Project - Here's a little sneak peek!!  My tutorial will be up next week over at Sew Festive Handmade - be sure to stop here, and check out the whole line-up and see the tutorials that are already up.

I have plenty of other projects I'm working on, I just need to find some time to actually work on them and take some pictures!  I'm going to do a whole projects-in-progress post sometime soon (even if only for my own sanity) so that I can see what I've got cooking.  If I were to turn it into a link-up, finish one project in August, prizes!!, kind of event would anyone be interested in joining in?!

Another blogging side-note, I know I'm rambling now, but does anyone know how to get tabs at the top of your blog?  Or can point me to a tutorial of how to make them?  I tried before but I just can't get it. 

Also, don't forget that the awesome Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop is still going on over at Plum & June.  Stop by and meet some of your fellow bloggers!  Here's the post with all of the posters and the dates, and here's who is posting this week:

July 10

    Jenelle from Echinops and Aster

    Julie from Bedsheet in the Kitchen

July 12

    Rebecca from Sew Festive Handmade

    Marti from 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks

Linking up @ Freshly Pieced this week!