Eye Spy - Top finished!

I posted a few weeks ago about all of my UFO's that I have on the go (here) and it has totally helped to kick my butt in gear to get a move on with finishing some stuff up! 

Domestic Handbag is done!  Hopefully I can post some pictures of that one later this month. - So that's 1 off the List! 

I finished the top to the Eye Spy quilt this evening - its roughly 64x54 inches and I think I am just going to piece some flannel that I have in my stash to keep with the 'scrappy' look.  Plus its for the kids and flannel is super cozy!

The seams match up fairly well for how many squares there are although some seams that look like a drunk monkey was sewing them but the nice thing is since the quilt is SO busy you don't notice the off seams too much.  Once I have it quilted I'll show you some of my favourite squares.

I did mention that there were a few drunk monkey seams - it took a TON of trimming to get the rows un-wavy before I sew the top together.  I pieced most of this very off and on over the course of a few months last summer and fall and I know I didn't pay nearly as close attention as I should have, I paid for the lack of attention to detail in trimmings! Every quilt has a lesson to teach and apparently this quilts lesson is PAY ATTENTION to seam allowances....  ;) 

Tomorrow I need to hit the LQS and pick up a package of batting since both packages that I currently have are too small and then I can work on piecing the backing together.  Hopefully I can get to doing the sandwich one night this week. 

Thanks for stopping by - see you tomorrow.

Out of Control UFO's!!

I've said it once, I've said it twice and I'll probably keep repeating it until I'm on my last breath - I love STARTING a quilt.....I love picking out fabric, desiging the quilt top, I even really like piecing it together.  Usually thats where the love stops..... it stops when its time to quilt sandwich the darn thing and I just feel this huge weight drop on my shoulders (which is sad since I would think that one should be the exact opposite - that I should be embracing and LOVING the finishing aspect of a quilt).  Thats when I usually get sidetracked with more beautiful fabric, a new pattern and go off on my merry way starting yet another project. 

I have decided to pull all my UFOs out of the bins, take picutres of them, and state what I have to accomplish on them and hopfully that will give me the kick in the butt that I need to get these projects done!  I was kind of shocked to see that I have 10  (TEN) UFOs and only two of them are small projects.  Four of them are crib/lap quilts and four are larger thow quilts.  (I had to edit that last sentence three times since I had originally only had 7 UFO's then I kept remembering that I had more WIP's stashed in the basement and one in the closet!).

• First up is the Party Monster Quilt - My SIL started this quilt for her son but fell out of love with quilting and has decided to use her incredible crochet skills more.  This quilt has been sandwhiched and MOSTLY machine quilted in the ditch.  I probably have two hours of machine quilting and then sewing on the binding.  All and all not too hard when I write it down.  Must get to work on this since Mr C would probably LOVE it (and my nephew is too big for this quilt now and its too cute to go unloved), plus its too cute to be sitting in a box! 

 

• Next up - my First Christmas Table Runner.  All I have to do is sew the binding on.  That should take me an hour and It would be good to go for this Christmas.  Time to get started!

• This is the Tumbling Rubies quilt - I started it when I was pregnant with my son but have got to the terrible 'how should I quilt it' stage and have no idea what to do so I just put it away.  I think I might do some stitching in the ditch but I was thinking some echo quilting could be very cool.  I might bring it to my next Guild meeting and see if they have any ideas for me!  

• This is my Dirty Thirties quilt -  I fell in LOVE with the sample at the quilt store and HAD to have it. I made the misake of caluclating how many small cuts/squares there are on my third day of working on it and immediately got overwhelmed and had to put it away.  I still love this quilt I think I just need to make a goal of getting one 4 block done a week. It won't be breakneck pace but it will be some sort of progress and I think thats what I need to help me move forward on this quilt without getting overwhelmed.   My goal of getting it done before I turned 31 is long gone (I just turned 32 this past September) but maybe I can get it done before I'm 35 or something!!  

• Eye Spy - this one isn't fully pieced together, I still have to sew the rows together and then put the outer boarder on the far right and bottom.  Once this gets sandwiched it will be easy peasy to stitch in the ditch and finish quick,  its just hunkering down and doing it! 

• This is the quilt that I started I was pregnant with my oldest (who is now 5). It was my second quilt that I ever made (or almost finished I guess I should say) I got all the way to having the binding finished but I never top quilted the middle section where the giraffe is and couldn't figure out what to do so I put it away.  This one makes me so sad, it was made for my first baby but was never finished and none of my kids got to enjoy it as babies.  Part of me thinks that Baby C is too big for it now,  but I would love for one of my kids to get to play on it and make some memories with something I made for them.

• My other Christmas Table Runner - this top is now complete and hanging on my design wall waiting for me to figure out how I want to quilt it.  I think I am going to FMQ this one and hope for the best.  I would love to have this one done by the middle of November so we can enjoy it for the Christmas season. 

• This would be the Crazy Cat Quilt - sorry about the picture, I totally forgot about this quilt until I was writing this blog and I really didn't want to have to pull it out and assemble it so I grabbed a picture from a previous post (and it was a horribly lit picture, sorry!).  The plan for this quilt was to give it to my Mom and her husband as a housewarming gift for their new house - the problem is they moved into their house THREE years ago.  I messed up on this quilt so many times and it seemed like every time I had it out I was fixing a previous mistake and I got REALLY discouraged and put it away.  I think now that my quilting skills have gotten a little better my mistakes will be mitigated a little and the next time I bring it out I will be able to pece most of the top together which would be SO fanstic!  I know my Mom would love to have this quilt, I just need to get to work on it.  

• This is the Jungle Squares quilt that I gave to my neice last year for Christmas for us to start to work on together but we haven't had any time to make any progress on it.  This is another quilt that makes me sad, I really wanted to have this done with my neice a few months after Christmas last year but with living an hour apart and a CRAZY busy year its been forgotten about.  Part of me wants to just power through this quilt and finish it myself for her and tell her that we can work on something a little less difficult (minky is a total pain in the butt to sew with and its even harder if you are 10!!!) together as her first project. But then part of me desperately wants to spend time with my neice and teach her how to quilt. 

  

• Last but not least I have my Domestic Handbag quilt that I am working on for my SIL - the design is a surprise so I can't post pictures of it.  I was making amazing progress until I had to begin the quilt sandwich then my tape wouldn't stop breaking (to tape it to the floor) or peeling up.  I had to make a quick stop at the store to pick up some duct tape and I'm hoping to get to that quilt tonight.  This quilt is at the top of my 'to be finished' pile and I cannot wait to have it done and give it to my SIL.

So there you have it, my 10 project WIP/UFO projects. Now that I have outed myself on how many projects I have on the go I will be trying my best to get those all finished up before the new year.  That being said  I will be posting lots of "progress made" posts so hang in there because very soon I hope to have a bunch of FINISHED projects to show you!  Few things are more satisfing than a completed quilt! 

Thanks for reading!  Please help keep me accountable by asking how different projects are coming if I havent posted about them in a while!

New Quilt on the Go - A Quilt for My SIL!!!

I am SUPER excited about my newest quilt on the go (and no I haven't finished any lately, I just added yet another one to the WIP pile!!!) - a Quilt for my SIL.  

I have been saying for YEARS that I really want to make a Granny Square quilt and my SIL has been saying saying that she would like to make a quilt - the problem with both our 'wants' is I don't crochet (very well!) and she doesn't quilt (very well) so we decided that we could make each other a quilt/afghan and call it the Great Quilfghan Swap!  I found some fabric that I LOVE and am waffling between two different patterns that use the same quilt blocks and I've been going to town on it the past few days.  

The only problem with doing this quilt is that I can't show it to you until its done because my SIL reads my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise for her!!  I've been sewing like a banshee for the past week and actually have quite a bit to show for it but I can't post any of it.  Once I give her the quilt I'll be able to make a MEGA post all about it!  

I think I'm going to call this quilt Domestic Handbag.  Domestic is part of the fabric line and Handbag is an inside joke between my SIL and I (that I'll explain when I show off the quilt!) and I think she'll get a serious kick out of it!!  

Off to get a little more sewing done before having to pick Miss S up from school.