Another Vintage Holiday

As I mentioned in my last post, my grandmother has asked me to make her a lap quilt version of the Vintage Holiday quilt using Christmas fabrics. I immediately got online and bought a layer cake of Dear Mr. Claus by Cosmo Cricket. The prints are charmingly retro, as so many of their collections are. This time I'm only making nine blocks instead of the original twelve so that it will be the perfect size for Grandma to use when she's relaxing in her chair at home.

This time I decided to be a lot more organized as I attacked my cutting and sorting, placing the pieces for each block in a numbered plastic bag so that I could sew them up all at once.

It makes the process so much easier to do things this way, and I really need to do it more often. Tomorrow I plan to finish up the blocks with the edging and possibly start on the rest of her quilt top since I'm trying to get this done in time to be delivered on Friday. And then, of course, I need to work on my own quilt top as well...

The days are full, but it's a (mostly) happy kind of chaos. Hope your day is happy too. :)

Vintage Holiday QAL Week 6: Blocks 11 & 12

It was wonderful to finish the last two blocks this afternoon! I was oh so tempted to keep going and start putting the quilt top together, but I figured that it was probably more important to get dinner on the table for my hungry family. Priorities, right?

Block 11

It's amazing to me how the simplest things can become difficult when you're so close to the finish line. Does this ever happen to any of you? Block 11 is a pretty straightforward design, but it gave me endless trouble today. For some reason it took me forever to decide which fabrics to use on this one. Then I had almost finished sewing the whole block together when I suddenly realized that the print was crooked on one of the turquoise end pieces. I debated fixing it, but I knew it would forever haunt me if I didn't, so I pulled the seams apart and replaced it. Of course, then the other end piece looked a tad off to me as well, so I had to pull that one out and exchange it too. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting my seams exactly right when I put it back together and had to rip them out and resew at least twice. It's a good reminder to me to double check these things while I'm still at the design stage of the process and before the sewing machine is actually turned on.

Block 12

On the other hand, Block 12 -- which I figured would be the more time consuming of the two this week -- took me all of fifteen minutes to plan and sew, and I absolutely loved it as soon as I saw it there on the table. Funny how these things work out sometimes...

There was no way on earth that all twelve of these blocks were going to mind their manners and sit quietly for a photo shoot outside with the wind that was blowing tonight, so this picture had to be taken indoors. It makes me infinitely happy to see all the blocks together at last, and I can't wait to finish the quilt top this week. I noticed that a few of you must have been just as eager this week, as I'm seeing quite a few completed quilt tops starting to pop up in the flickr group. They look so amazing!

My grandmother doesn't have a computer, but she's been excitedly following the progress of this quilt through pictures that I send her. Now she's decided that she needs a Vintage Holiday lap quilt for herself, so I started working on one for her last week. I'll have some photos of my progress there for you tomorrow, so be sure to come back and take a look!

Linking up to the Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link-up.

Mouse Turns Two

Today my sweet Mouse turns two. In a way it feels like she can't possibly be that old, yet at the same time it feels like we've had her forever. She's gone from being a sickly little baby her first year (she suffered terribly with acid reflux) to a bright eyed, laughing pixie. When she's excited, she loves to run across the room calling, "Yay! Happy!!"

I'm so happy to have you in my life, little Mouse. Happy Birthday. :)

Zakka Message Board

 I can hardly believe that next week marks the end of the Zakka Style Sew Along. This event more than any other I've participated in this year has been such a great learning experience. Though I haven't been able to do every single one of the projects -- I've done 15 out of 23 so far -- the ones I've tried are some of my favorite pieces and most are getting daily use. If that isn't the mark of a good craft book, I don't know what is.

This week we're making the Zakka Happy Garland Message Board. I made mine a bit larger, using a 12 inch embroidery hoop and only one row of bunting flags, but I wanted to feature slightly larger prints. That little Heather Ross market piggy was a must for me, so perfect for a board that will eventually hold my to-do list. Does she look like a woman on a mission or what? I used one of the striped prints from Hello Pilgrim by Lizzy House for the background rather than a piece of linen as I had originally planned; I like the extra shot of color it gives the piece.

My ruler twill tape made another appearance -- I love that stuff. The hardest part of the project for me was getting the back sealed up. I didn't have a large enough piece of felt, so I improvised with some heavy canvas and a glue gun. It took a bit of fiddling with the edges, but I finally got everything in place. Since that part will be facing the wall anyway, I'm not too worried about it. The board is now hanging up beside my desk making me happy, as all my zakka projects do.

Linking up with the Zakka Along.

Back to School Blog Hop Giveaway Winner

It took us nearly four years, but my husband and I finally settled on a deal: I get up with the kids at night so that he can get enough unbroken rest to be able to function during the day, and he lets me sleep in as late as I can on weekends and holidays so that I don't have a total breakdown once a month. It works for us, and I can't tell you how much I look forward to those hours of extra sleep. It can be a tad embarrassing to come downstairs at 10am, but it's worth every blush. In any case, that's why I'm a little late picking a giveaway winner this morning, but we do have one! Out of 203 entries, Mr. Random picked number 37,  Tracey at the Peony Teacup, who said...

Tracey @ The Peony TeacupAugust 25, 2012 7:51 PM

I like the scrap busting idea! :)

I've sent Tracey an email and will get her package mailed off this week. To the rest of you, thank you so much for all the ideas and encouragement. You're the greatest!!

Vintage Holiday QAL Week 5: Blocks 9 & 10

Only one more week of blocks left to go after this one -- I can hardly believe it! Our local Joann's has a wonderful selection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, and I was delighted to see that they were carrying her new Richmond collection last week. I had to buy at least one print -- the rust colored fabric with the flowers and scroll work -- to use in one of my blocks this week, and I ended up adding it to block 9. For block 10, I tried to once again tie in a few more Christmas colors. I spend probably twice as much time each week choosing the fabrics as I do actually sewing the blocks together. In any project, I always believe that the pattern is a foundation to build on -- it's the fabrics and colors that make the piece come alive. Here are the close-ups...

Block 9

Block 10

I'd tell you what colors I'm leaning toward to finish the last two blocks, but heaven knows I'll probably change my mind ten times before next weekend, so we'll let it go for now. I'm also starting to think about what colors I want to use for the sashing, border, and binding. I'd like to use red or green for at least one of those and possibly a grey print too. Options, options...

Here are all my blocks so far, and you wouldn't believe how long it took me to set this photo up. There's a good strong breeze blowing through our backyard every evening, so laying the blocks down means chasing them from one end of the lot to the other. This was the best idea I could come up with tonight...not perfect, but at least you can get an idea of what everything looks like. It will be lovely to have all these sewn together in two weeks. I can't wait!

I'm so happy to hear how much you're all enjoying this QAL. We're definitely going to have to do another one of these after this one!

Linking up to the Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link-up.

August

August seemed to be a month of endless surprises -- some good, some not so much. All in all, I'm not too broken up to move on to September...

On the sewing end of things, though, there were some fun projects this month. Looking at the mosaic, I'm happy to see that I'm still trying different things. I have a tendency to get stuck in a rut in so many areas of my life, but I would rather not do that here. I've had a ball hosting the Vintage Holiday QAL with all the wonderful people who are following along -- this is definitely going to be one of my favorite quilts, I can tell already. I even have a few other finishes this month that aren't pictured here, but I'm looking forward to sharing them with you in the weeks ahead when I'm officially allowed. And for those of you who haven't yet entered my blog hop giveaway, hurry! I'm picking the winner on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, I'm ready to welcome September -- and maybe a few days of weather actually below 100 degrees? -- with open arms.

Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts.