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In the sewing room, no. 6

February 13, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

I didn’t get a lot of sewing done this week, but I did go through ALL of my fabric. I already had most of it separated by color, and now within each color I have a “high volume” and a “low volume” stack. It was an unplanned organization, but was good for me. I remembered a few prints I had forgotten about and moved some things so I’ll see, and therefore use, it. I’ve been trying not to buy any fabric so far this year, so a little trip through what I have reminded me that I have so many lovely prints. It will be easy to sew happily for quite some time without buying anything! Among the things I did was pull all my solids together into one big stack. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I have a pretty rainbow of solids. I’m keeping them separate and have decided it’s time to make a quilt using all of them. Not sure yet what it will be, but I’m loving the rainbow of color in my sewing room right now.

I’ve been neglecting my Scrappy Trip Along blocks lately, so I took some time to sort them. I cut more strips and started laying out blocks and now they’re all arranged, just awaiting some time at the sewing machine.

I have two very simple quilts that are almost done. I finally made the binding and now just need to get it on the quilts!

The blocks for my Scrappy Swoon are all done and I’m piecing them together this week. I’m excited to finish this one up!

I’m tempted to feel annoyed with all that isn’t finished, but am reminding myself that there’s a lot of life being lived in our house and it’s a blessing I can touch my sewing machine at all! I’m grateful for late nights or early mornings when I can steal a few minutes of happy sewing. They’ll all get done eventually, and if I actually bind those quilts, they’ll get done this week. That’s the goal, anyway…

Have a great week!
Jennifer Linking to Freshly Pieced

7 comments in the sewing room, quilting

Scrappy Swoon Quilt Along: Sections 9 & 10 (plus an announcement!)

February 11, 2013 jennifer Quilt Alongs

Welcome back everyone for our last week of piecing little squares! Last week we knocked out the last of our colored squares and today’s tutorial will take care of the remaining background squares. But before we get started, a bit of good news!

The wonderful group at Fat Quarter Shop has offered a fat quarter bundle of Jeni Baker’s new collection, Color Me Retro for one of you!

Just finish your quilt by March 11th to be entered in the giveaway. I’m so excited to have the Fat Quarter Shop sponsor this quilt along and offer a big thank-you to them for their generosity! Color Me Retro is on my wish list and I’m thrilled that one of you will get a bundle of it.

Ok, with that as an incentive, let’s knock out sections 9 and 10.

Section 9 This section requires 36 – 3.5 inch squares of background fabric.

Each block will take 9 squares. Lay them out in a 3 x 3 pattern.

Sew the squares into three strips of three.

Sew the strips together to make a 9.5 inch square.

Make four of this block.

Done!

Section 10 This section will use your remaining 72 – 3.5 inch squares of background prints.

Each block will take 18 squares. Lay them out in three rows of six squares.

Sew the squares into three rows.

Sew the three strips together to make a block that is 18.5 inches long and 9.5 inches tall.

Make four of this block.

And you’re done! Now lay them all out to see how it looks…

Terrific! Here’s our schedule for the next few weeks:

Monday February 18th: Instructions for piecing the quilt top together, and measurements for backing.

Monday February 25th: Basting and quilting Monday March 4th: Binding Monday March 11 – 13: Link Party! Link up (or email me pictures of your finished quilt if you don’t have a blog) to be entered in the giveaway.

Thursday March 14th: Drawing for Color Me Retro bundle.

That’s the schedule! A few more weeks and you’ll have a finished quilt. Don’t forget to add your photos to our Flikr group . For those of you who are on schedule (or ahead), just keep it up. If you started late, you still have a month to catch up so you can enter. The photos so far are lovely; I can’t wait to see your finished quilts!

Happy Sewing, Jennifer

3 comments quilting, Scrappy Swoon Quilt Along

A Lovely Year of Finishes: February

February 7, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

It’s 9 p.m. on the 7th of the month, and I just happened upon “A Lovely Year of Finishes” in 2013, hosted by Shanna of Fiber of all Sorts and Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs . What a fun idea! I mean, I already knew I need to finish tons of projects, but I like the idea of picking one and being accountable for finishing it in addition to the other projects I have going on. So, without a second thought (and because the deadline is in a few hours) I’m jumping in with a goal for February.

I pieced this simple quilt top last fall, then set it aside until recently. I basted it a couple of weeks ago, thinking I’d finish it quickly, but ended up choosing to pick the quilting out.

So, my goal for February will be to re-quilt it and get it bound and finished.

You see, I have eight children, and last year I had the idea to make them each their own quilt *in addition* to all the other quilting I was doing. Realistic? Not at all when you consider 8 quilts would increase my total quilts in a year by 2/3! However, I started anyway and got six of the eight quilt tops pieced, but only one of them has been quilted and two more are just sketches. They need to be finished, and not just because they’re WIP’s. They need to be finished because each is made from fabrics chosen specifically for that child, and I want them to have the quilt before they’ve grown/changed too much to enjoy it. What a waste it would be to let them sit!

So I’ll finish the first one in February. Yep. I like that idea.

And, since I didn’t know about this fun year of finishes until now, I’ll tell you what I would have picked for my January finish.

This quilt just needs a binding. It’s also one of those 8 quilts. I’d like to knock it out, as well, even though it’s not the official goal.

I guess I’m in!

Jennifer linking here