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!

Tumbling Rubies - Quilt Sandwich'ed!

YEAY!   My Tumbling Rubies Quilt is finally starting to look (and feel) like a real quilt!  

Last night I hunkered down and set about to start the tedious task of completing the quilt sandwich; so with my iTunes going, a full glass of coke and a bowl of chips nearby I got to work taping, smoothing, and pinning.....and pinning....and pinning.....!

I've got the top pinned, cut to size and ready to be machine quilted.  As much as I would LOVE to do some free motion quilting I think I'll keep it simple and let the fabric and the tumblers be the stars of this quilt.

I think that it will be a great lap size quilt - about 32 inches by 45 inches when the binding is done.  Perfect for snuggling under while watching TV or reading a good book or during a little cuddle time with the kids!  

Hopefully the kids will cooperate at bedtime over the next little bit and I can move this quilt from the WIP pile to the FINISHED list!!  

Almost back into the swing of things!!

Spring is here and I am almost back in Action!!  I had my 'mini-surgery' earlier this week and its been so nice to be able to see almost perfectly again!

I can't wait to get back to spending some quality time with my sewing machine - I did manage to get the quilt sandwich done for the Tumbling Rubies quilt but I haven't uploaded the pictures from my camera  yet.

Hopefully I'll be able to update the blog by the end of this weekend with some quilting/sewing goodness and pictures!!

Thank you for stopping by!

I'm Back - Briefly!! ;)

Oh my goodness, I can't believe how funny it is that I do a post about finding a new addiction and then I do NOT blog for almost an entire month!  I need to clarify that I haven't been pinning everything that I can get my hands on - I promise!

I've actually had a pretty rough time with my eye the past month (somehow I managed to have a Corneal Abrasion - my cornea was swollen and almost infected - not fun) and doing anything on my sewing machine just made my eye really really sore.  Thankfully after 4 eye doctor's visits and two different medications it looks like I'm finally on the mend and might actually be able to get back to sewing in the next few days.

Thank you for sticking with me in my absence the last month - hopefully Google Friend Connect will still bring you here - I love my visitors.  I'm hoping to get back into the sewing swing of things soon and be able to finish up quite a few of my WIPs.

Got the Fixin's to Finish!

Ok, I'll admit it I have way too many Work In Progresses going on right now.  I just can't help it, I either see something online that I just must do or I find some fabric that I just must have!!!  ;)  It really isn't conducive to actually finishing stuff since I just want to move onto the next awesome project (quilt or otherwise) that I want to tackle.  I'm like a cat that sees something shiny and gets easily distracted!!

Most of my lack of finishing projects stems from the fact that I don't buy the batting and the backing at the same time I buy the fabric for the quilt top.  Since I don't have all the material available I tend to take the 'I can get it later' approach and put the quilt top down and take forever to actually finish it.

Enter Exhibit A:

I got the backing and batting for not one but TWO quilts the other day.  No more excuses to not finish the Crazy Cat Quilt or the Tumbling Rubies Quilt! The black fabric is for the Crazy Cat Quilt.  I wanted something fairly basic since its going to be a wall hanging for my Mom and her Husbands house and no one is really going to see the back.  The red butterfly fabric is for the Tumbling Rubies Quilt.  Its super soft flannel and will be so comfy to cuddle up in and a great accent color for the Ruby fabric top.  I'm debating a pieced back and throw in an extra row or two of tumblers to mix up the back a little.

I know I said I had no more excuses but that wasn't quite true. I still don't have a sewing nook yet and I'm not 100% sure where my pinning table went (its either hiding in the crawl space in the basement or tucked in behind all the toys in the garage, I'm not sure!!) - BUT that should all be taken care of by the end of the week if the stars align correctly this week.  Hopefully once my sewing nook is put together or I find my pinning table (a folding card table that I don't mind if I scratch) whichever comes first, I'll be able to get to work on finishing both of those quilts.

Tumbling Rubies - Quilt Top DONE!!!

The Tumbling Rubies quilt top is finally done!!  I'm so happy with how it finally came together!  Its the perfect size for a lap quilt and will be stunning once I put the binding on (in my most humble opinion anyway!).  I was going to do a boarder but I think I want to showcase the fabric and the scrappiness of it rather than trying to put a solid boarder around the entire thing.  

All total there are 15 rows of 14 tumblers per row - thats 210 tumblers that I pieced together.  I cut all the pieces on my Accuquilt with the help of my niece a few months ago and I couldn't imagine cutting them by hand.  My hat is off to anyone that hand cuts tumblers or any shaped fabric pieces for that matter.  I do straight strips with my ruler and have been accumulating a few Accuquilt dies along the way for any shapes I like or need!!!  I tend to make mistakes with my ruler and that just leads to frustration.

I need to stop taking nighttime pictures of my quilts - they always
look yellow!  I might retake a few pictures tomorrow with some
sunlight to give a proper view of the fabrics colors.

Its such a fun and cheery quilt!  I cant wait to find some backing fabric, I think thats a 'next week' project and then I can get to quilting the top.  I'm not sure if I want to keep it simple or actually attempt to machine quilt something.  I've never machine quilted before but I wouldn't mind trying something on this quilt I just have no idea what would look good.  I love the look of circles but I don't think that would go with the tumbler blocks.  Maybe squiggles....outline quilting.....stippling.....???  I have no idea.  Anyone have any suggestions?!

Its so nice to have the top done, its been a work in progress for a few months now and I can't wait to get it finished and onto the back of the couch so I can snuggle up under it while I watch TV or rock Baby C to sleep.  

Friday Night Sew In!!

I can't believe its that time again - time for the Friday Night Sew in hosted by Bobbi at Crafty Vegas Mom and Heidi at Handmade By Heidi.  I missed the last two months so I'm looking forward to getting to it tonight!!

I think I'm going to work on my Tumbling Rubies quilt - maybe, just maybe I can get the quilt top done tonight!!

Tumbling Rubies - two days in a row!

My strategy of not putting my sewing stuff away off the table until I finish the Tumbling Rubies quilt top seems to be working.  I managed to sit down and sew two days in a row and actually got ALL 15 rows of my Tumbling Rubies quilt top finished this afternoon.  I think its going to be so lovely when its fully pieced together!

After I managed to get the last row I had a little bit of time before Miss L usually wakes up from her nap and was able to piece together the first four full rows of the quilt top.  Most of my seams match up so far and since this quilt top has 180 tumblers, as long as most of them match up I'll be completely happy with the end result!

Please forgive the wonky picture - I was holding Baby C while standing on chair trying to take this picture.  It was the best one out of the three I took and since I didn't fall or wipe out with Baby C I consider this picture a success!

I'm hoping that I can find an hour to sew tomorrow and Tuesday and I should be able to have the quilt top done and then can get to work on pinning the quilt sandwich and possibly get to some free motion quilting on my machine this weekend.  I'm dying for something to cross off my WIP/UFO list and hopefully this can be that something that I can cross off soon!

Cousins & Stickers & Sewing

Its not even three o'clock and we've had an awesome day so far!  My SIL brought the cousins over for Miss S and Miss L to play with and Baby C got some Auntie snuggles in for a few hours.

After Miss L went down for her nap Miss S and I got to work on her Tinkerbell Sticker book that I've had hiding for months, she found it the other day and has been on me to play with it ever since.

After working on a few pages together I figured while shes busy with the sticker book, Miss L and Baby C are both napping that maybe, just maybe I could get some sewing in!!

I posted a month ago about my lovely sewing room thats in the unfinished basement but it seems like I've gravitated back upstairs with some of my stuff.  Its too cold in the basement for Baby C and I haven't been able to get any actual sewing done in a while so I figured today was the day to bring my Brother back upstairs and get some of the Tumbling Rubies quilt done.

My view from my machine as I sew and Miss S worked on her sticker book:

I managed to get two more rows done before Baby C woke up and demanded some food.

The more I do of this quilt the more I love it - but I still have issues with the randomness (and judging from some of the comments I got on my last post, I'm not the only one that has issues putting the 'random' in a random quit top) but I figure the more rows I do the more chances I have to mix things around to get the right amount of randomness. I think I need at least five more rows to get this quilt to the right size for a lap quilt if not maybe seven more rows, I'll play it by ear ('cause thats what I do best!) and see what looks the best as I go along.

We are in talks with a general contractor to develop our basement, hopefully by Christmas I'll have a nice warm comfy sewing nook in a fully developed basement!!  Then Baby C can hang out with me in the comfort of a nice warm basement - until then I'm just going to keep taking over the kitchen table. ;)

Tumbling Rubies - progress!

I started working on my Tumbling Rubies quilt back at the beginning of August with the help of my beautiful niece - she helped me cut the fabric on my Accuquilt as well as helped pick out the first few rows of fabric.  Then came along Baby B and most of my sewing came to a grinding halt.  Thankfully I've been able to get a little bit more of the quilt done.

All the tumblers lined up and a few extra fat eighths that I still had left to cut a few weeks ago.

My kitchen table being used as a design board - I am HORRIBLE at trying to attempt a 'random' pattern but I was trying to get into the spirit of it as I was laying it all out.

Some of the rows are done - I messed up on some of my random'ness and I have a few tumblers that I feel are too close together and its driving me bonkers - but that might just be my OCD coming through!  What can I say...I like a set pattern.  Don't get me wrong I love love love the look of a completely random quilt top I just suck at laying everything out so its all random (which sounds like an oxymoron!).

Hopefully I can tackle the rest of this quilt soon - its so lovely and I can't wait to see it all completed.

Day #5 of Blogtoberfest done!!  Should I admit that I have a list of stuff written down near my computer that I want to blog about this month so I don't have an excuse to not blog?!  

Tumbling Rubies - Newest quilt on the go!!!

I haven't been sewing much (at all!) the last little bit - between being VERY pregnant, really sore, and exhausted I haven't been able to get much sewing done.  I'm on the final stretch and have less than two weeks to go (Due date is August 18th) so I figure if I can get through these next 10 or so days I'll be able to get back at the sewing thing in a little bit once life gets somewhat back to normal - or at least less crazy than it will be right after the baby is born!!!  

I fell in love with some Ruby fat eighths fabric by Bonnie and Camille from Moda a few weeks ago at my local quilt shop and have been dreaming about turning this fabric into a 3 1/2" tumbler quilt since I brought it home.  The fat eighths were AWESOME for cutting - all I had to do was iron them, fold them in quarters and slide it through my Accuquilt.   

The only downside to the Accuquilt is the scraps - sometimes I feel the leftovers are a bit much BUT that being said I LOVE the fact that all the cuts are uniform.  I'm going to go through the scraps in a little bit and see if I can cull some of the big pieces and be able to put them in my scrap pile and then toss the super small scraps (I keep telling myself its not hoarding.....its saving expensive fabric for another project that I don't have figured out yet!!!).

My cute little tumbler pile - soooo cute!!!  I am getting 12 tumblers from each fat quarter and I cut up 12 fat eighths so I have 144 tumblers already.  I know that I am cutting WAY more tumblers than I need for this quilt but I figure that I can either make a few little throw pillows to go with it or make two small lap quilts for Christmas gifts.  I was also thinking that maybe I could make some cute doll blankets for the girls babies that they keep carting around in preparation for their little brothers arrival lately!  

I still have 24 more fat eighths to cut through but they'll be waiting for me to cut another day!!

I just had to share this:  We had my youngest daughters birthday party last weekend and her auntie and uncle gave her a gift in a huge bag - leave it up to her big sister to put it on her head and run around the living room with it on!!  

Thanks for stopping by - hopefully I'll be able to post again soon - and maybe with some baby news!!!!