Fun Stuff

I have been working on some stuff for myself this week. First off is a table runner/bed runner/ awkwardly long and skinny mini-quilt. I based the pattern off of a kit for a teeny tiny mug rug they had at my local quilt store. I used all the same fabrics, but made the blocks bigger and used more of them. I can't believe how well I got the points to match up!

I have no idea how I am going to quilt this, or what I am even going to back it with, so this is the state it is in. This is also the state it will remain in until I figure out where it is going.

I also made myself a pillowcase out of some Les Amis fabric I bought at QuiltCon. I just love this dang fabric!

The pattern I used has a band that looks like a stripe, but it really is a band. Here is a photo showing it flipped up to prove it is a band, not a stripe. Emphasis on the band, not a stripe thing.

I also finished the front of the Science Fair quilt in Honey, Honey. For the background fabric, I used some tone on tone white. There are just so many seams to mess up in this pattern! Somehow the quilt and I both survived!

The Camp Snoopy sample quilt came back from the quilters, and I finished the binding today.

Here is a close-up of the quilting, done by Kenneth Butler.

Two Point Seven Five[ish] Quilts!

Since I have last really blogged (way back in May), I have finished two complete quilts and two fronts. This is technically 3 quilts, but I thought the title was more fun this way. Here goes!

First off we have a sample I made up for The Quilt Cottage. Making samples is rad. They give you all the fabric and tools, you assemble the front, they long-arm quilt it (which I can never afford!), you bind it, it sits in the store for a few months, and then you keep it! Here it is! 

From another angle with the backing showing. Also the pattern is the Big Blocks pattern.

And this final one shows the quilting which was done by Kenneth Butler.

The second quilt is a "Yay! Y'all bought a house!"quilt for my boyfriend's best friend and his wife. It started ages ago with the original intent of being for me. It is a twister quilt, so you start with something like this:

Then cut it up and sew it back together again to make this:

Turns out it was way too big so I trimmed it down when I decided to give it to them. Here is the final one!

Here is the binding and backing combo for the twister quilt.

As for the front I finished, it is a Super Swoon! I am writing a tutorial to make one giant Swoon block that fills a whole quilt. This is the fabric I picked. 

Here they all are together, looking awesome. Cthulhu! Woot!

And here is the overall picture of the front, with my shadow for scale. I am absolutely keeping this one for myself. It is off getting professionally quilted. I like it so much to pay for the quilting. If you know me [and how cheap I am], you know how amazing that is.

I also have some bee blocks to show off. Both of the bees I am in had us using Oh Deer! Here are the two blocks I made. The first is for Color Bee Shocked, the second for Quilting newBEES.

I have lots of samples in my future. Some of them I am excited about, others not so much. But I will find homes for it all, and it is wonderful practice, even if I don't love the fabric! 

Here is one I am super excited about! I picked up all the fabric along with the pattern and tool to make the Science Fair quilt in Honey, Honey! I absolutely love this fabric line! There is also some white on white fabric, but it wouldn't photograph well.

I am also making a whole bunch of sample Snoopy stuff. First there is a pillowcase.

There is also a quasi-coordinating quilt. I apologize for the horrible picture, but it was taken on my bed at night, and the lighting is horrible! You can find the pattern for this over here. This one will be dropped off for quilting tomorrow. 

Now for a bit of Christmas in June. Here is this elongated churn dash block in horribly traditional X-Mas fabric. 

Luckily I am also researching patterns for a much better line of X-Mas fabric, Aspen Frost. I just have to find something the owner of the quilt shop and I agree on. Shouldn't be too difficult! 

Okay, so I have had a lot going on and will continue to stay that way. This is a great feeling because I have been feeling neglectful of my sewing. 

Vive Caribe!

I have been taking an unscheduled hiatus from blogging, and I'm not sure why. Thanks to summer, I am no longer working 50-60 hours a week, so I can't blame work. I have been doing a lot of sewing (I started making samples for a LQS), so that could be it. Unfortunately I have completely forgotten to take pictures of what I have been making. Oh well.

This evening, my boyfriend and I (along with 20ish other people from job number two) are hopping on a plane and heading to Bonaire, in the Dutch Antilles, off the coast of Venezuela. Here is a handy, dandy map for reference:

Bonaire is my favorite place in the world for scuba diving! They have been super proactive with their reef conservation, and it shows. So much coral! So many fish! So much beauty! I have my GoPro packed, so hopefully I will be bringing back some spectacular photos and/or videos for y'all to see. :)

I have to be at the airport in 5 hours and I have no idea what sewing project to take with me! I didn't plan ahead! Ahhhh!!

As a preview, here are a few of my favorite pictures I took in Bonaire last year.

I saw this octopus on my first dive in Bonaire. It was incredible! This is my favorite picture I have EVER taken.

Here is a picture of a parrotfish. I love them because they always look like they are laughing, and I spent the whole week trying to capture a picture of it. This one was taken on the last day of diving, last summer.

Bonaire had a big feral donkey problem, and they are now in the process of rounding up as many as they can and keeping them at the Donkey Sanctuary. This is a little baby that was born at the sanctuary.

Hopefully I will come back with even better pictures this year! For now, I'm off to stare at my suitcase.

Spray Basting Predicament

I am having a slight problem with spray basting. This is a problem so serious that I can't use it anymore... BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND ANY!

There is absolutely no spray basting to be found in Corpus Christi, Texas.

JoAnn's website says they have 4, but there are none. All of the local quilt shops are sold out. Hobby Lobby said they didn't even know what I was talking about.

This is incredibly frustrating because I wanted to finish the baby quilt for Ray and big sister quilt for Reese by Sunday so they can be my presents at Ray's baptism. I had enough left in a can to finish Ray's quilt, but not Reese's.

Ugh. Spray basting is just too amazing. I am absolutely hooked. Just the thought of having to safety-pin baste this quilt is making me want to cry.

Am I going to have to sell out and buy some online? Let's hope it doesn't come to that. :)

Flags for Boston

I decided to make some flags for the To Boston With Love quilty flag project. They are asking for bright and cheery flags that embody love and peace. The flags are actually going to be displayed in Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

I made a total of six flags, and they all have special meaning to me, which I am thinking is one of the points of this project. If you made one or more flags, I find it nearly impossible that you would be making them with absolutely no love in your heart.

The two peace signs represent the peace I am trying to send to Boston, and the peace we are all able to learn from the people of Boston as they grieve, cope, and live. The pattern for these cute hexagonal peace signs comes from Berene at Happy Sew Lucky and can be found over here. Side note: I paper pieced the inside of the peace sign in the hope that it would come out tidier.

Then I made an appliqued heart for every person I have known and loved that had ever lived in Boston. These first two are for my mom and my cousin Julia. They both attended Wellesley College, which is just outside of Boston. My mom wanted me to make it known to everyone that the blue one is for her.

These last two are for a friend from college and a very close family friend. The family friend (I have known her since she was a wee little kiddo) lives in Boston now, and it was difficult to know she was there by herself during all of this. But she is a tough little cookie.

Two Fronts

There has been hardly any progress on anything since I was out of town at an astronomy convention all weekend and have been frantically grading papers before and after that trip. Luckily, grading is nearly done. Also, the situation with this student has been resolved, and by resolved, I mean reported.

On to quilts! My friends J and S just had a baby on Friday. They did not know if this baby was going to be a boy or girl. I picked a quilt pattern, and bought fabric so that whichever way it went, I would be prepared to finish the quilt.

It was a boy! So I went with these two fabrics. The green is a little off in this lighting. It looks more accurate in the overall picture.

Here is the overall picture! I made a chevron pattern out of 7.25" finished half square triangles. It sewed together very quickly. I have no idea how I am going to quilt this bad boy. It is about 51" x 58" which is large for a baby quilt, but I would rather he grow into it and have it be useful for longer.

These friends already had a daughter when I met them three years ago, which meant I never made a baby quilt for their first child. She is now 5 years old, so I decided to make her a big sister quilt. The way I see it, she has been the only child for 5 years so she might have some minor adjustment issues, but she is a total trooper. I think this deserves a quilt.

Her favorite colors are pink and purple, but I wanted to include some other colors just in case her favorite colors change. The really dark looking ones are actually not-too-dark purple batiks. This one is 56" x 64". I also have no idea how to quilt this one, but I will figure it out. Also, the pattern for this quilt is from Moda Bakeshop and is called the Apple Crate Pattern.

Hopefully I will finish grading and submit grades soon so that I can start sewing a little bit more. Uggh, wishful thinking! ;)

Grading Mania!

I love the end of the semester because it is the end of the semester which means I get a break from teaching. I hate the end of the semester because it means I have such an insanely large pile of stuff to grade.

This semester, I stumbled upon papers from two students who obviously cheated since whole paragraphs are IDENTICAL. I have a warning in my syllabus about academic dishonesty and plagiarism, so I know I should report them, especially since they are college students who need to learn about the real world. 

I have no idea if I should report them or not. This is the first time this has happened to me, and the paperwork seems daunting. Ugh. Any opinion?

Anyways, now for happy crafting stuff!

I finished the April and May blocks for Color Bee Shocked.

This is the April block for Caryn. It is a GIANT block, 24.5" unfinished!

Here is the May block for Karrie. This one is also large and ends up being 17.5" unfinished. (The group used this tutorial over here.)

I also mailed out my pouch for the Pretty Little Pouches Swap. Here are the two sides, with some goodies.

Lastly, I was able to eat some Brussels sprouts from my garden! Yipppeee!

Now I have to go back to work at grading. I should really try to have everything graded by Thursday afternoon since I am going on an amazing road trip to Texas Star Party, the best Astronomy viewing party in the world this weekend! I will try to bring pictures. :)