WiP Wednesday: The one with pillows

I have been wanting to make a blooming pillow ever since I saw this pillow at Let's Eat Grandpa. Then the Bloomin' Quilt as You Go tutorial came and I was in! I started out with some summery fabrics

 

Following the tutorial (which is great by the way), I started the quilt as you go process. I LOVE THIS! I can see myself doing more quilting as I go!

 

 

But then things started to go awry

 

This little gap meant some seam ripper time. 

That was fixed and then I started to notice that my bloom was less bloomy and more log cabiny. It looked like this

 

It should be like this, so it all looks a little lopsided

 

What I leaned through this process is that I am not so great at "improv", I am more of a structure kind of girl. This is not bad, it is good to accept who you are. It is a lot easier on your brain :) So I continued on and made  my way to the edges of my square. I ended up pulling a lot more fabric to finish off the panel. Not sure if this is because I did not know what I was doing, or because I did not pull enough at the beginning. 

Anywho, the square was complete and then I started to notice more "errors". 

There was this one, a rogue corner and a whole friggin raw edge that did not get covered

 

And then this one, another rogue corner, that could use a little camouflage

I was not super happy about all of this, but I actually still really love the finished panel, flaws and all

I am going to finish this project and make it into the pillow I dreamed of. It will stay with me. It's bright colors will make me happy, and it's flaws will remind me to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the process. When I get frustrated, stop, take a breath, or have a beer and come back to it.

I will be back to show you the finished product in a couple of days. Have you worked on anything that made you almost crazy but in the end taught you a lesson? Would love to hear about it.

Before I go I would like to say that the tutorial that I followed for this pillow was really great and I would recommend you try it. I am certain that all of my issues are mind alone :) 

I'm linking up today at Freshly Pieced.

Talk to you soon!
Adrienne

Baby Bella: a finish

I can tell you that a sunny day in Ottawa is a very rare thing lately. So when I woke up to blue skies this morning I grabbed my latest finish, my camera and hit the road. Here is Baby Bella

The top of this quilt is all Bella from Lotta Jansdotter

 

 

On the back, as I always do for baby quilts, I went with flannel. I found this typewriter fabric which I really like.

 I was going to bind in white, but then decided to keep the color going and pulled out the teal. 

While things still look very dreary outside, there is hope
 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope the sun is shining where you are. 
Adrienne

KAPOW i say!

A week and a half! Where the heck have I been? Around, that's where I've been. Working, working and sewing a little. Baby Bella is on the machine right now. Quilting done and ready for binding.
Pictures are dark for a reason, lots of night quilting.

 

I also finished the pincushions. Some of these have made their way to my Creative Pay It Forward friends. I was really happy with the way they turned out, especially Barb's big B!and Jennifer's J. For my quilty friends I also sent some Wonder Clips along. Love those things!

I am staring to get x and + blocks in the mail from my Stash Bee mates. How great is it to get wee packages in the mail with delicious blocks! I shall have to start thinking about a layout...

I have to share some fabric happiness with you. Just because they make me so happy!How about a little Denyse Schmidt Shelburne Falls in the Maple Colorway? I have a confession. I often wondered what the big deal was about DS fabric. But when you see it in person KAPOW! Seriously people KABOOM! the colors are so rich you wonder where they have been all your life (of course these pics do not do them justice). I have a little "Keep Calm" project planned for these babies.

And, how about a little Carnaby Street in Rad Love. Not sure what I am going to make with this yet, but I can tell you it will be for me.

What are the favorites in your stash these days?

I'm linking up today at Freshly Pieced.
Happy Wednesday!
Adrienne

On the Road: Thoughts and Finds

I spent six hours in the car today driving from my home in New York to my home in Ottawa (sounds glamorous huh? trust me, not so much). So much driving time allows for lots of thinking and, if you're lucky, some interesting finds. Gave a lot of thought today to current quilt projects and planned ones. I think I may have to re-visit the Baby Bella Quilt top, not sure, keep you posted.

the Catskills I left behind today

I also had a find! On a planned stop to JoAnn's fabrics (before I crossed the border where they do not exist - please come to Canada!) to buy supplies I found the March/April edition of quilty magazine.

This is my second time buying quilty and it is has quickly become a favorite. For $5 you get over 10 patterns, all of which are geared towards "fresh patchwork and modern quilts". The patterns read easily and I could see me making 90% of them! A couple of my favorites

 

The finds did not stop once I reached my driveway (and unpacked the car). An e-mail from Stash Club told me I could expect a warm and sunny bundle this month. Check out all of these yellows

Not a regret in the world about joining this club. None!

I also started a chat on line with a  friend about a photo that I pinned yesterday. I now have a weekend sewing project!

 

Any finds for you today? and do you have a favorite quilting / craft / sewing  magazine?
I am full of questions today! 
Adrienne

WiP Wednesday: The one with pin cushions

Welcome to Wednesday! This week I had a hankering for pin cushions. Now I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I don’t have a pincushion! Because I travel so much I tend to keep my pins in this tin

Now I am sure I am breaking some rule by doing this, but it works. However I want a cute pincushion, so yesterday I got to work. The original plan was to make paper pieced Monogram cushions. One turned out ok, but then things started to go south and I am not sure why. So I stepped back from the machine, had a good night’s sleep and this morning I said to myself “self, keep it simple”. I ended up piecing tiny log cabins.

I used 1 inch strips to build the cabin. Pretty crazy at the beginning with tiny chain piecing, but once they started to get a little bigger it was so much fun!

They are so friggin cute that I made five. I need to buy some crushed shells for the filling and then they will be on hand, one for me, and the rest for gifts.  

April is also here so that means getting to work on bee blocks etc. I am Queen Bee of one of the hives in Stash Bee this month (so cool!) and I chose the Japanese x and + block. Here is the sample one that I made. I cannot wait for the blocks to come in from my bee mates J you can find the tutorial for this block here; it was super fun to put together.

For the second hive I sew for, the April block is Road to Oklahoma. I really liked this block, and am thinking about making more. If you would like to try it, you can find the tutorial here.

I also put the April block together for the Sugar Block Club. Some good paper piecing action. Here is this month’s

And the four so far. I really like the look so far (please excuse terribly lit picture!)

The Project List – sorry folks, you can skip this part if you want, but I need to keep myself on track J

• Stash Bee - all up to date
• Sugar Block Club - all up to date
• Creative Pay it Forward – 1 finished, 4 started, 1 thought about
• Fresh Mini Quilt Club – March completed, April not started

Quilts

• Postage Stamps: DONE
• Foreign Currency: DONE
• Squint: Top half done DONE
• Ascend: Cutting started
• Baby Quilt for a friend: Not started Top done, needs basting & quilting
• Flower Chain: Not started
• UFO Bento Box: Top and back done, needs quilting
• UFO Happy Retro: Top half done

That’s it! I am linking up today at Freshly Pieced.

Thanks for stopping by

Adrienne

ps - you know I cannot resist sharing a fur baby pic. Penny loves thread, and sewing in general

WiP Wednesday: Baby Bella

It's Wednesday! The sun is actually shining today, the birds are singing and when you go outside it is not bitter. Things are looking up! However, finding a "nice" place for pictures outside this morning was a bit gross. Not sure about you, but our yard looks like this, a beautiful combo of mud and ice

Holy crap try to avert your eyes from the glow of my winter white legs!

But I soldiered on because I wanted to show you the top of the Baby Bella Quilt that I finished this week

I found one patch of pristine snow left

This quilt is bright, cheerful, and feels super scrappy fun! I think it will be perfect for the baby on the way. I debated about putting white sashing between the blocks, but after a consult on the design wall (I consult with my friend 1000 miles away - thank god for FB!) we both decided that no sashing was needed. Without the sashing you can see triangles and awesome shapes everywhere!

the consult

I did run into some problems with this one. I have quite a few bulky seams.

 

No mystery here, I was rushing, having too much fun and wanting to see the finished top, and not paying attention as I was pressing the individual blocks. But have no fear, I have appropriately reprimanded myself and next time I will be more careful :) 

The batting has been pieced (a little spring cleaning and piecing of batting craps meant I did not need to buy any new batting) and backing ready (going flannel like I always do for baby quilts) so now I just need to decide on how to quilt. Your suggestions? 

Orangie helped me take pictures this morning. He has a spring in his step!

Wow! He looks like a giant in this picture!

Time for basting, better get at it. Your thoughts on a quilting approach would be much appreciated and I would love to know what are you working on this Wednesday!?

I'm Liking up today at Freshly Pieced! 

Adrienne