Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Sisters Ten BOM - July blocks

I did my Sisters Ten BOM the other night - finally! With summer vacation and whatnot I've gotten behind on my BOMs... Two months for the Skill Builder - oops!!

Anyway, here is what I came up with for this set...

Sisters Ten BOM - July Blocks


Sisters Ten BOM - July Blocks



And, as usual, here are all the blocks I've done so far -


Sisters Ten BOM - July Blocks

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Sadface

So. Remember when I got all excited about Sewing Summit?

Yeah. Life happened.

So I need to unload my ticket. It's a very sad day.

Please let me know if you're interested! Email me at talesofineptitude@gmail.com

Sewing Summit ticket for sale! Email talesofineptitude@gmail.com

Monday, July 29, 2013

Georgia On My Mind

I finished it in time!

I started this quilt about a week ago, and quilted and bound it on Friday just in time to gift it on Saturday. In my trend of naming quilts after songs, this one is Georgia On My Mind. It's for my grandmother, who has been ill, and her first name is Georgia. So I thought it was appropriate :-)

Georgia On My Mind

Georgia On My Mind

(I lint rolled after I took this picture!)

For the back I used the block I messed up as well as a big block made of solids that I used in my grandfather's quilt. Yes, I am going to finish that one. I'm just at a quilting inspiration standstill.

I took this quilt outside to photograph for the first time, and I really like how that came out. The grass was a little dewy, and one of the pictures is sunny and the other darker because I didn't think to wait for the cloud to pass. Live and learn!

Georgia On My Mind

Georgia On My Mind


I free motion quilted it with little sprouts that go in alternating directions, and echo quilted the gray stars for interest. I had been thinking about how to quilt this, and then saw this post on Julie's blog that SAME DAY. Perfection!

I bound it in a Denyse Schmidt print that went with it perfectly. It finished at 60x60, and I used ~30 blue prints, I think 17 pink/red prints, and about 10 gray prints. They were almost all from stash, except some of the reds, because I don't work with red very often, and don't keep it stocked.

Georgia On My Mind

Friday, July 26, 2013

A Quick Finish!

I started this quilt late last week, and finished the top and basted it yesterday! I'm hoping to get it quilted today so it will be ready for gifting tomorrow. Wish me luck!


A quick finish!


A quick finish!


I actually cut the batting to size on the table, with the quilt and batting folded into quarters, instead of on the floor with them both spread out. SOOO much easier!!

A quick finish!


I also basted on the table for the first time ever. There were a couple lumps that I had to get out, but I'll get the hand of it. So much more comfortable! I'm definitely doing this again, it's just not that often that I do quilts that are small enough!

A quick finish!


So now this is what my design wall looks like. So much potential! I actually have something that I'd like to play with, but I'm so behind on both of my BOMs that I might try to be responsible for a hot second and catch up on those first.

Blank design wall = so much potential!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Progress

I've made some progress on my newest endeavor... quite a lot actually, I only have 3 blocks left to go!

The other night I cut all my fabric and put the fabric for the blocks onto plates to keep them straight. I think it's funny - for a scrappy quilt, this seems pretty organized...


New project progress


New project progress


New project progress


I know scrappy quilts are supposed to be really random and stuff, but I tend to pre-select the fabric for each block to make sure that the values and scales of fabrics are spread out evenly. (I did this with Long Strange Trip too) It's not rocket science, and I'm not super fastidious about it. But I did have a little bit of a time during Sunshine Daydream, when I was trying not to repeat the same prints in different colors in the same block. That didn't work out too well. I thought it would really bother me when the quilt was done, but it doesn't in the least. And I think that quilt is my favorite of all the ones I've made at this point!

SO... I sat down with some netflix on Sunday night and cranked out a few blocks.

16 to be exact. 

I did six the first night I started the quilt, just to get an idea of how it would look, so that means I only have three left! I'm stoked to get this quilt finished, it's going to be for my grandmother, who has been very ill recently.


New project progress


I did some of my smallest piecing ever, the center block of this star is 1 1/2". So cute! (the measurements came out better this time!)

New project progress


Signs of productivity!

New project progress



Friday, July 19, 2013

Long Strange Trip

I've actually got a finish! I finished the blocks for my scrappy trip quilt before I went to the beach, and the other night I finally put the blocks together!

I'm naming this one Long Strange Trip - another reference to a Grateful Dead song. (Remember Sunshine Daydream?)

I really like this quilt, it comes together so quickly, and it can use literally ANY fabric you have on hand. I used Good Fortune by Kate Spain, and I love that the fabrics are really different from each other, but still relate really well. I wasn't ready to go full-on scrappy yet ;-)

My finished scrappy trip!

My finished scrappy trip!

My finished scrappy trip!

Sorry some of those pictures are so dark. I took the last two in the middle of the night, as soon as the top was done. I haven't quite figured out the best way to take pictures of finished quilts. I think I need to get used to the idea of taking them outside and laying them on the grass in the sun. Maybe I'll experiment with the fence in my back yard...

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Starting something new...

Man, my blogging has really slowed down lately! I promise I'm actually doing stuff, but I've definitely not been as productive as I'd like. BUT I have a finish to show you tomorrow!

Because of the recent finish, I started a new project last night. Well, I cut the fabric. And then realized that I had miscalculated and needed to buy more. So I started to start a new piece, anyway.

The start of something new...

The start of something new...

Red is so hard to photograph... any tips?


So after I cut all that, I decided to make a prototype block in a smaller size. Yeah. It was 4am. This block came out at 5 1/2" square. It was supposed to be 8 1/2" square.

At least the fabric I cut was right.

The start of something new...

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

WIP Wednesday

What have I been working on?

Cleaning the sewing room from the disaster that was left when I went on vacation...

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Still working on my vacation handwork project....

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And I FINALLY laid out my scrappy trip blocks and got them organized to sew into rows!

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I could have been more productive the last couple days, but not too shabby...

Monday, July 8, 2013

I'm back!

So, I'm back. Reluctantly, of course. I AM glad to be back home to my studio, though.

I'm back!

Even though I left it in disarray. I gave a little sneak peek of one of the handwork projects that I took with me to the beach, and of course, I cut the fabric for it about 20 minutes before I was supposed to leave. Now I have to clean up my mess, and refold this pile of pretty...

I'm back!


But, I'm back, and re-acclimating to real life.

I can't lie, it is nice to be home in my own space. Here's to hopefully getting some stuff done!