WIP Wednesday: Terrain Summer Sampler Blocks

Wednesday is here! This is what I've got on my design wall these days.

Rose Star Blocks

I've got ten of these done, now. I pieced all of the blocks I cut in May, so now it's back to the Olfa mat to prepare some more. I cut pieces for another two blocks this week. If you want to make some of your own. Claire's got a great English paper piecing tutorial at selfsewn.

Summer Sampler Series Blocks

Flower Garden Path

Evening Star

I got back to making some of these this week. These two blocks are all Terrain, and I like them even more than the other blocks I've made mixing Terrain with other fabrics. I think I'll use my original blocks for something else and just do a set in Terrain. There's a lot of changing plans midstream around here ;-)

These are the Summer Sampler Series blocks I made to swap and donate to the Austin Modern Quilt Guild. The goal was black and white blocks with a pop of color. This is the end of the swap, though, so you won't see any more in this color scheme.

Summer Sampler Series Donation & Swap Blocks

I can't wait to see everyone's WIP updates! I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Much Ado, Whatever Goes Wednesday, and Rae Gun Rambling.

   

Block in Progress: Evening Star

It was a big day in the world of quilty education. As soon as I woke up, I did my online enrollment for classes at International Quilt Festival in Houston. Woohoo! Anyone need a hotel roommate in Houston for the week?

In other exciting quilty education news, the workshop and lecture info for QuiltCon was released today as well. The lineup is amazing! I'm glad I have some time to look everything over and make some tough decisions before enrollment opens on my birthday, August 30th!

In actual quilting news, I worked on an Evening Star block from the Summer Sampler Series in some beautiful Terrain fabrics today. It was a little slow going, but I got this far before some crazy weather blew in. I had to take pictures outside to get enough light, and all of the pieces were blowing away. 

Right after I took photos, the bottom fell out. I also realized that I forgot to cut out some of the fabric as I was piecing this section. The orange shows right through. I'll have to snip it out carefully. Oops. That's how the process is, though. Sometimes mistakes are made ;-)

I hope your crafting was mistake-free today! I'm linking up with Sew Happy Geek, Polly Want a Crafter, and Keeping it Simple.

    

English Paper Pieced Rose Star Block 10

Ahhhhhhh! Crafted. Favorite Rose Star block so far :-D 

Look how cute it is! Let's pet it. Oooooh, pet, pet, pet. So purdy. 

Ok, this block was a great success. Now, it's back to the chaos of picking fabrics and designing and cutting for new blocks. I've now depleted all of my design work from May. I determined it takes an hour to pick and cut fabrics for the 31 pieces in each of these blocks. I'll try to time myself this go around to see if I'm faster.

These Rose Star blocks are so perfect for when you can grab a few minutes of sewing here and there outside of your sewing space. You can do it, too! Just check out Clare's tutorial for English paper piecing on her blog, selfsewn.

I'm going to have to get a leather or silicon thimble, though. Marathon stitching sessions have resulted in the blunt end of my needle poking through the skin on my middle finger. First aid was necessary. Metal thimbles have proven too ridged for me to use with any amount of control. 

Remember, you can use coupon code SOPBlog20 for 20% off anything in the Purple Daisies store through Sunday, July 8th. Get it while it's hot, crafty crew. This coupon's for you ;-)

That's right. I rhymed. Happy Crafting this weekend. 

X Marks the Spot Block from SewCraftyJess

I'm the circle host for Cheer, the latest do. Good Stitches circle! I'm so glad folks post about their participation in these do. Good Stitches quilting circles. Otherwise I might have never known about this fun opportunity.

Essentially, Rachel of Stitched in Color organized an amazing way for sewists from all over the place to get together and make one quilt a month for a good cause. For our first quilt, we're following a tutorial that Jessica posted on her blog, SewCraftyJess. 

These blocks will end up being blue and white, and I can't wait to see them all as they come rolling in the mail. I'm the quilter for this first go 'round. 

It seems like I signed up forever ago to host a quilting circle, but I'm so glad enough people joined in to make a new circle this summer. There are some amazing quilters lending their talents to these quilts, and I can't wait to make beautiful work with them. If you're interested in participating in the next circle, check out the details on the main do. Good Stitches flickr page and sign up on the wait list.

I hope everyone stateside got to see some great fireworks last night!

I'm linking up with Somewhat Simple and The Girl in the Wild West.

  

WIP Wednesday: AMQG Donation Quilt Top

I got a little Fourth of July holiday sewing done today. I finally crunched the numbers to figure out how to piece the blocks and background together. I got some Kona White out on the cutting board and went to town with the rotary cutter. Math scares me, but everything went together as planned.

This layout was very forgiving of variances in the size of the blocks donated by Austin Modern Quilt Guild members. These blocks have so many pieces that the slightest difference in seam allowance adds up by the time the block is finished. I know my first couple ended up 1/4" short. Now my seams are so scant that they tend to end up 1/4" bigger. 

I was thrilled to make some progress on this WIP before the sun went down and it was time for fireworks to start. The little balcony overlooking our tiny yard is a great place for hanging quilt tops in the breeze.

I can't wait to see everyone's WIP updates! I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Much Ado, Whatever Goes Wednesday, and Rae Gun Ramblings.

   Happy Fourth of July!

Giveaway Winner

We have a winner in the 100th blog post giveaway! Many, many thanks again to Cristy Fincher with Purple Daisies for providing this wonderful binding toolkit.

Mr. Random Number Generator picked number 12.

The winner is Tisha Nagel with quiltytherapy!

Congratulations to Tisha, and thanks so much to everyone for commenting and following along with my quilting adventures. Your input has been so wonderful, especially when I've sewed myself into a corner ;-)

Happy Crafting!

June 2012 Recap

Have you signed up for the 100th blog post giveaway?

A lot went down this month, but I don't have a finished quilt to show for it. I feel weird about that, but it's nice to see the other projects I checked off the list.

Design Wall

Finally! This is such a game changer in The Clubhouse. I can't tell you how much I've put it to use already. I wasn't sure if the six 3M picture hangers per panel would hold, but I've had no problems thus far. Sometimes I'll use a pin to hold a block against the batting. Those Rose Star blocks with the paper still in the outer ring are heavy, but most blocks stick on their own.

DIY Thread Spool & Bobbin Storage Tutorial

Another non-sewing game changer. I love having my spools of thread organized by color and paired with their coordinated bobbins. So far, so good, and I'm loving my new storage on the end of the sewing desk.

DIY Bobbin Tamers

These little guys are keeping bobbin threads from trailing across the room. I love finding DIY sewing solutions at the hardware store!

Rose Star Blocks

Taadaa! I got three of these babies done this month. Is it wrong that my first thought is I should be finishing one block a week?

Storm at Sea: Changing Course

Smartest thing I ever did was to ask for your input on this one. My existing finished blocks are not destined for a giant Storm at Sea quilt. Rather, I'll use them for some alternate piecing project. 

Summer Sampler Series Blocks

I really pounded out some of these this month. I had fun challenging myself with directional fabrics. It's nice not to be scrambling to make swap blocks for Austin Modern Quilt Guild meetings at the last minute. I'm looking forward to finishing my own collection of blocks using my Terrain stash. 

Pezzy Pin Cushion

This was a fun instant gratification project. It finished up a lot faster than each of those Summer Sampler Series blocks ;-) I think I need more pin cushions.

How was your month of June? Summer's in full swing. What's on tap for July?

  

I'm linking up with Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day and Under the Table and Dreaming.