Amish Puzzle Ball

Obviously, I have been very busy lately. I did not realize exactly how busy being a temporary employee would make you. A few things have changed. We moved, I have switched temp assignments a few times and am currently at a long term assignment. I have been sewing. There is some progress on the Sweet Pea-like quilt, but not much else.

One of my coworkers had a baby shower, so I made her an Amish Puzzle Ball.

I found a tutorial at Sweater Doll, she does a very good job of explaining how to create the ball and how the puzzle works. If you are not familiar with the ball, please visit her site, I only took a few quick pictures before wrapping, as I had a tight deadline. This ball is made with scraps from the last baby quilt I made and the ellipses work really well with smaller scraps. The center of the ball is not as scrappy, as I needed 6 1/2" circles. You have to stuff these really tight, so I used a lot of scraps to fill the ball, all 100% cotton. Fiberfill, besides being polyester, just doesn't pack tight enough.

Doll Blanket Finish

A few months ago, I won some Hexie Templates from a giveaway at Jane's Quilting. I used some leftover scraps from a baby quilt and added some yellow swirl fabric, along with the monkeys, and the stars. They make such a cute combination. 

The back is a fat quarter of Barenstain Bears. The binding is more of the swirl fabric, amazing how different it looks with different applications.

I don't usually machine quilt, but with such a small project, I practiced a little straight line stitching. I crisscrossed straight lines to make a diamond pattern. I really like how the diamonds make honeycombs of some sections, while creating a frame for others. I used Gutterman Thread in a medium shade of cream, which worked really well. This will go to my niece for her birthday in September.

Happy 5th of July!

This is the day everyone sleeps in after staying up to watch fireworks. I slept in a whole 3 hours, til 8am! Hahaha.
So far I have not got much to show for the amount of time between posts. I currently have an hour and a half commute, both ways, to work. This has prevented me from doing much sewing when I get home. I can sew when we are slow at work, which is nice. I have started the 2nd Christmas stocking and am almost up to the point where I can start assembly. (I always embroider and bead everything first)

This quilt went on vacation with me(I am posting from my in laws). I have gotten a large part of it quilted, but the thread blends in so well that you can not really tell the difference.

I am also working on a very small, Sunbonnet Sue, coaster/table runner for my desk. I will post pictures of that when it is finished. Possibly next weekend if I can find the time to sandwich it during the week.

2 Months Later!

Updates.
I finished my SIL's quilt.

This is the front, with the binding ready to go on. I use Clover Clips, I like how useful they are. I keep finding new uses for them.

The back side, so you can see the binding.

This is finished, shipped off and received. I couldn't find my camera at this point and have discovered that the iPad camera is not a very good substitute.

I also started a new project. I won a pack of heat resistant silicone hexagon templates awhile back from Jane, (who blogs @ Jane's Fabrics) and decided to try them out. I had been a bit intimidated by them, they look difficult. With the templates, though, they are not that bad. I decided to make a small item, to see how I like them. Many of the prints are leftovers from another quilt.

Since this project requires 150 hexagons, I have decided larger projects are not for me. I like bigger pieces. The doll quilt, that these will make, ends up about the size of a fat quarter. I have seen larger quilts, such as Grandmother's Flower Garden, that run into the thousands of hexagons. I found this fat quarter in my stash, which I think will work perfectly for the back.

The modified Sweet Pea quilt has made some progress, although progress is having issues. I really need a thimble, since my fingers are getting holes poked in them, but I have issues using them. I am then forced to take break to let me fingers heal before I can sew again. The interesting thing about the hexagon project is that it does not put holes in my fingers and I can work on that instead.

I am not sure how much you can see in these pictures. The first is a finished block, with the stained glass flower in the center. The outer pieces are just edged in a complimentary thread. My stitches need practice, so I prefer to hide them right now. =)

This is a close up of the center of the same block. There were several options here, but most I did not like. I ended up deciding to edge to flowers and quilt the leaf stems to create puff. It made a nice texture, that I like and the flowers are accented.

These are also finished, with complimentary thread edging each piece. The sashing in the center has a variegated green leaf motif. If you click on the picture, it should become large enough to see some of the detail.

My last update is for school. I have graduated with distinction. My Bachelor degree is in Business Administration and a Minor in Accounting. I am job hunting (ofc) and will, hopefully, be updating a bit more often.

Spring Break...

... is approaching. In January, there was a Grow Your Blog event and I found a few new blogs to follow and entered my name for a few giveaways. I won the Bead Soup prize over at AmyBeads! They arrived this morning and are so pretty. Such a beautiful blue color.

I borrowed the image from Amy, so you can see how pretty they are. Not sure what I will use them on. I like to accent quilt elements with them, but I have 3 quilts in progress. I would love to start another, but I hate having too many projects in progress.

It is incredibly cold here lately, with another storm approaching. YAY more snow... uh, no. I want warm! *sigh* My school closes for a snow day very rarely, but we have had 3 snow days this year. (They only close for ice and dangerous roads. They do not care if it is -5)

Pssst.. Mother Nature... I think we have enough snow.

Progress is slow. I finished the stocking, but one of my neighbors bought it before I had a chance to take a picture (I also misplaced my camera). I have another kit, so, my SIL will still get one for Christmas. I couldn't say no to a little extra cash ($60). Probably less than it's worth with the amount of time I devote to near perfection, but a nice profit on the $12 I paid for the kit. Hers says Rudie, but they look the same.

The doll quilt has some quilting finished and will likely be done before the semester is over. The larger quilts are close to shelved. I am so busy with school and I need to finish my SIL's items before working on my own.

Traveling Stash Winner!

Congratulations Stephanie From Imperfectly Perfect Quilts and More! 

Traveling Stash

Every once in a while I like to put my name in for these traveling boxes full of fabric and quilting goodies, called the traveling stash. This one arrived Wednesday.

This box has many lovely fabrics in it. There are also several patterns, which I did not take a picture of.

The lucky winner trades out any fabrics or items that they want to keep and puts back in any fabric or sewing related items that they no longer use or want (new or gently used please, items that you would be proud to own). Then you host a giveaway on your blog for the next person the stash will move on to.

There are a few rules:
Please only trade quilt shop quality fabric
Please only trade items you would be proud to own
Have an active blog
Post the giveaway and ship the box in a timely manner
For a more extensive list of the rules, please visit Katies blog 'Snuggle up with a Dish From Karma'

Leave a comment below. If you want something fun, you can talk about your latest project or the weather (mine finally went above 0 this week) where you live. It's always fun to see where everyone is from. I will close this one on 2/6, so I can ship on Saturday.

Kitty Quilt Update

School.... takes up so much of your time. Wow. Will enjoy not having homework. Soon, very soon. In the mean time my life revolves around courses and homework. Right before classes started for the spring I was working on a project for my SIL.

When I last posted this was my layout and everything was ready to be sewn together.

I started by attaching the kitties to the corners. *cough* I mean the corners on the cat blocks.

Then I chain pieced the 9 patches and tried to keep the rows together.

(Obvs. my ironing board is my place to take pictures right now)

I ironed my seams open to avoid bulky seams, since this one is going to be hand quilted.

Trimmed all the corners on the cat blocks and pressed them out and open.

Now I have 4 lovely cat blocks all ready for the 9 patches.

Oops. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the completed 9 patches before the quilt top was completed.

So this top is another WIP while I work on homework. Fortunately(?), this semester I have several hours between courses and nothing to do except club meetings and homework. I plan on packing small projects like this one and working on them when I find time. 

Vacations and New Projects

Most of us made New Years Resolutions. My favorite is the people who swore off buying any fabric until at least June. Some have sworn off all year. Cannot. Buy. A. Thing. Wow.
I buy for projects, but would LOVE to have the stash of fabric some people have. Oh My! I have seen people with whole bedrooms of fabric. To be honest I would just  really love to have the space to have my own sewing room.
I tried to make resolutions for the new year, but I don't really believe that they work. After all what difference does a new year really make? If you can't stop yourself from doing something that you should not the rest of the year, why would a few more days (and a number change) make that much of an effect?
My idea was to not start any more projects until I get a few of the ones I have as WIPs or UFOs finished. I really should finish a few things, but I like to design and I like to pick out fabric and start projects. Projects I finish are usually gifts or requests for others. For Christmas I visited my SIL and she loves my work, so she requested a table topper and a lovely snowman stocking.

There are a few companies that make these. This one is from Bucilla.

I love making these. They are felt, embroidered with thread and beads, making them a quick and easy finish. I love this snowman too. He is super cute and will look lovely on their mantle next Christmas. The Table Topper is made with some of the Light Fantastic I won from Barbara over at Wont-to-be Quilter during her giveaway in November.

I drafted a pattern made of alternating windows and 9 patch blocks. My SIL picked out some cute kitty fabric to be fussy cut for the windows and the Light Fantastic prints for the 9 patch blocks.

I started by cutting out all the pieces. There are 4 91/2" cat blocks, 16 3" window corners, and 45 31/2" 9 patch pieces. (My ironing board doubles as a cutting board with the addition of a small cutting board)

This is the 9 patch block layout. I fiddled with the arrangement until it looked good and then took a picture to save my favorite layout.