Jingle Bird: Block 2

The second blocks in the Jingle Bird quilt were much easier than the first one - way less leaves and stems! I made these two over the weekend, and I just love the cute little poinsettias at the bottom. I added little yellow flowers to the ends of the stems on one block, and red berries on the other one.

These red berries are supposed to be way smaller, but I found it impossible to applique such teeny tiny circles, so I gave up and made them bigger. I'm all about making life easy, and this quilt is tricky enough as it is without me fussing over tiny pinhead sized circles.

There are no birds on these blocks, but plenty more to come in future ones, don't worry!

Jingle Bird Quilt: A New Start

My cousin really likes birds. A few years back I made her this bird quilt for her sunroom, which was a big hit. It's not quite the right color scheme for christmas time though, so she requested I make her something more appropriate for holiday decorating.

We scoured the web for bird christmas quilt patterns, and finally happened on this Block of the Month quilt that Erin Russek did back in 2013.

http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/jingle-bom/

We're going to make a few changes - first of all, more birds! So there will be less of the quilt block blocks and more of the appliqued bird blocks. Also, the color scheme will be a little less green and more turquoise. I have some ideas for a different block layout too, so we'll see how that goes.

These applique blocks are not easy! I finished my first one last week, and it took me about 4 hours to make one. Yeesh! I still have to add little berries to the ends of all the leaf stems, but overall I think these are the cutest things. I'm hoping to finish this in time for christmas of 2018.

Friday Finish: Dreaming

Quilting this was a cinch - just fast easy loops! I've been waiting for a sunny day out to photograph it. It's been nothing but grey here and freezing cold, which is perfect for holing up and sewing, but not so great when it comes to photographing what you've sewn!

I backed this in a Jennifer Paganelli floral print, which seems like it wouldn't work at all, but somehow appealed to me. I did decide to change the binding though because of it. The original binding was supposed to be a mustardy yellow batik print, but that really clashed with the backing, so I went with this darker pink print instead. I like how it all turned out.

This is my sixth finish, and you know what that means? No more "NO NEW PROJECTS" rule! I can start new stuff! I can sew whatever the hell I want to! Believe me, I have a list. It's going to seem weird to have such freedom ☺

Top Assembly: 2015 BOM

I finally completed all the quilt blocks from the 2015 Craftsy Block of the Month, designed by Jinny Beyer. As you know, these were challenging - y-seams, applique, templates...lots of skill building!

I was worried because all my blocks were slightly different sizes, but clever Jinny made it so that wasn't a problem - the very last step was putting a large border around each block, and then trimming them down so they are all now the perfect size!

These are sewn together on point, with border strips and cross-hatched corner blocks. I think it looks really nice so far, but all this is fiddly to sew together, and will probably be another couple nights of work. THEN, three more borders get sewn on before this one is FINALLY wrapped up. That's OK though - this has been three years in the making - another day or so won't matter much!

Preppy Whales: Take Two

I started working on Elizabeth Hartman's "Preppy Whale" pattern last August for a baby quilt project, but quickly discovered that these whales were pretty complex, and I needed something faster for the baby quilt.

Now, with my self-imposed No New Projects rule still in place, I decided I'd take another stab at completing some of these whale blocks. For whatever reason, this time around I'm sailing through a lot more easily.

For one thing, I'm more organized - each of these blocks has 18 pieces in it, and I'm sewing the units assembly-line style for all the blocks. Breaking them down like this has made the blocks seem much more doable, and I only have a few left!