first, i finished up my Red Zinger quilt top!!  don’t mind the bottom squares… they are dragging on the ground (ack!).  i am busy piecing the back, and tomorrow, i will start basting it all together.  7 days until guild meeting… will i get it quilted and bound?!

red zinger quilt top!

Second WIP… the rainbow starflowers.  i’ve decided on the layout for the top, and am busy piecing it together.  this one will have to wait a bit until i’m done with the Zinger and i decide on a back for this one.

Third WIP… the Scrap Attack quilt along!!  i’ve decided what i’m going to make.. a quilt like THIS one.  i need to start cutting down my scraps to 2.5″ and some 3″ squares. i also bought some white for the background.   i don’t know how long it will take me to complete this quilt, but i think it will be pretty when i’m done!

Fourth WIP… i really don’t think i’ve ever had this many projects on the go at once!!  i am  joining the Oh My Stars! QAL with Thought and Found.  i bought a Terrain (my fave!) layer cake, and a co-ordinating bundle of Kona solids to go with it.  i also got some grey for the background.  i’ve decided that i’m going to work on 1 size of star at a time.. so i’ll make all the 12″, then all the 8″ and then all the 4″ blocks.  i’m making the most simple stars.. many of them will be made of just one print each, though the 12″ stars will have Terrain in the middle, and solid points, since i can’t cut both out of a layer cake.  i am saving every single scrap of the leftover fabric to piece the smaller stars too.  hopefully, i will have enough Terrain and Solids to complete this!  fingers crossed    so far, i’ve cut all the fabric necessary for all of the 12″ stars, and i will start piecing them soon.  i am starting this QAL very late, so i have some catching up to do.  hopefully, since i’m not making all the variations of the stars, it can go quickly.

the first, i’ve been holding onto for almost a month, because it makes me sad.  our quilt guild makes special little quilts to donate to the hospital.  these particular quilts go to the most sick little babies.. in fact, to the ones who are not expected to make it.  it’s a little piece of comfort in the hospital, and a special memory for the parents to take home.  so when our quilt guild asked for members to take home a package to make a memory quilt, i took one.  i knew i wanted to make one, but it makes me so sad to think of the little babies that these quilts are going to.  in the package, there is everything needed to make a little 25″ quilt.. 6″ charms for the front, fabric for the backing, batting and even binding strips, already cut.  there is even a little printed tag for the back, saying that it’s from our guild and the address.  apparently they’ve heard back from families over the last few years, and they’ve appreciated the quilts.  in fact, one family loved the idea so much that they donated enough fabric to make 100 memory quilts!

memory quilt package (batting not pictured)

they suggest a very simple layout, like below.  certainly, this would be the fastest way to put together a little quilt.. but it wasn’t speaking to me.  i wanted something simple, but different.

suggested layout

so i sewed all the charms into HST’s and my Second Born and i had fun trying a bunch of different layouts.  i decided to go with the layout below.

my layout, minus one HST. it got lost behind my sewing machine table.. it's since been found.

so over the next week or so, i will finish up this little quilt.  they said that it doesn’t even need to be quilted.. you can tie it if you like.  but i’ll probably quilt it anyways.. something simple, following the diagnonal lines.

and because this little quilt was making me so sad, i decided to start a happy quilt at the same time.  i’ve been wanting to use my Rainbow Charms from the swaps i’ve taken part in over the last few months.. and i decided to use some of them to make a Rainbow Star flower quilt.  i am making 12 blocks using my 5″ charms.  they make a nice, 16″ block.  i will still have lots of charms leftover for another project!  i haven’t decided on my layout yet.. i’m not even sure if i will use all 12 blocks, and  if i have any blocks leftover, i’ll use them to make a baby quilt.

playing with fabric placement.

all 12 blocks pieced!

a few days ago, i managed to get the centre of my Red Zinger all sewn together!  just borders to go.. hopefully the daycare kids will sleep well this week

ooh, it looks so nice on my couch!

red zinger.. only 4 more blocks to go!

today, when i read about Stitched in Colour’s Scrap Attack Quilt-along, i knew i HAD to join.  i have a huge scrap bin, and despite recent attempts to reduce my scraps (Scrappy Orange Windows, and hand pieced Stars are using all scraps), my bin is still nearly overflowing.  i’m not sure exactly what i’m going to make yet… maybe a strip quilt, or a ticker tape quilt.  i have a bunch of different shapes and sizes, so i need to put some thought into it.  i’m not even sure what size i will make yet.. i want something big enough that i put a dent in the scrap bin, but small enough that i can get it completed in time!

here’s a list of my bigger finishes this year (not including a gazillion doll quilts and some wall hangings):

January.. Owls Quilt for 3rd Born (maybe it needs a better name?)

May… Wedding Quilt for BF (first paper piecing!)

June.. Quilt for An Awesome Aunt (first time i pieced diamonds!!)

August.. Purple Rainbows for 2nd Born (quilt possibly my fave finish of the year, first hand piecing)

September.. The Kindergarten Quilt

October .. Super Mario Quilt for 1st Born (the quilt that’s currently getting the most hits on my blog everyday!)

November… HST Baby Quilt

December .. Disappearing 9 Patch

December .. Dress Designer Quilt for 2nd Born

Goals for 2012….

+ i really, really want to learn how to piece curves.  so many quilts that i admire have curvy bits to them, so i want to tackle that.  so i’m going to make a Drunkard’s Path Quilt at some point in 2012.

+ i want to become more conscious of consistency this year.   i need to keep my seams consistent, i need to square things up consistently, and i need to *slow the hell down* most of the time when i’m quilting.  i think everything i do will be better for it!

+ i’d also like to sell a quilt this year… maybe the Red Zinger if it turns out nice enough.  hubby says i can’t possibly keep every single quilt i ever make

+ the list of quilts that i’d love to make is very long, but i’m hoping for 12 big-ish finishes in 2012.. one for every month.     i have a (growing!) list of UFO’s, and i’d like to tackle some of them as well.   one of them *has* to be my Bookshelf Quilt… i haven’t done a thing on it since June, and i really need a lap quilt for myself!

+ i’m trying to decide if i want to join a Bee, a Swap or a QAL in 2012… all things i’ve never tried before.

Happy New Year to everyone out there!!!

one last gift done for the holidays!  this is my very last sewing project that i wanted to get finished up, so YEA!!  my list is done!!

so this is a teeny tiny wall hanging for my hubby.   the whole thing is only 14″ square. i wanted him to have something small that he could hang up in his office or at work.   the Angry Birds blocks are from Fandom in Stitches (those guys rock the paper piecing!).  i printed them off a tad small, so my blocks were more like 5 1/2″ unfinished.  all the fabric was from my scrap bin, including 2 pieces of a leftover jelly roll for the binding.  yea! (scrap bin is still overflowing though!).

they look a little like zombie birds without the eyes finished

trying to decide what to do for sashing.  i had this long piece of brown leftover from my son’s Super Mario quilt, so i went with that.  I used Steam a Seam to put the black dots on the eyes.

lol, my 4 yr old is so wiggly!

my Third Born helped to hold it up when i finished, so the pictures look more wobbly, wavy and blurry than it really is in real life, LOL.  i think the Yellow Bird is my fave!  the Green Pig was fun too.  i think it would be super fun to make a rectangular doll quilt with an angry birds scene on it, maybe i’ll make one next year

i have no idea how big this quilt will be.  i’m planning on starting with just a baby quit size, and see what happens.  i am going out of town for the holidays, and this project will be good for taking for 9 hours in the van.  this will be my first quilt that is entirely hand pieced.  i might as well hand quilt it too, huh.  we’ll see

it was around 11 pm, and i went to check on her before i went to bed.  she had wet the bed.  she’s 8 years old.  have i mentioned that this is how First Born’s diabetes symptoms started?  he was 6.5 years old, completely potty trained for years, and wetting the bed.  so now anytime someone wets the bed, it completely freaks me out.

so i needed to test her blood sugar, just for my own peace of mind.  i knew that if i didn’t do it, then i would be up all night, just worrying.  hubby had to hold her down, once she was half-awake and realised what was about to happen.  i had to unclench her fingers.  i pricked her finger, and waited what seemed like an eternity while the metre counted down 4-3-2-1… perfect number, whew.  Second Born was crying, and i had to cuddle her back to sleep.  she was still mad at me in the morning.  she woke up angry.  she seemed a tad bit less mad when i explained to her (yet again.. ) that i just wanted to make sure that she’s healthy.

i think it would break my heart if i had a second child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  it’s supposed to be a pretty rare occurrence, and yet i know two families in town that have 2 type 1′s, and i read about families online that have more than one type 1 too.  it totally broke my heart when First Born was diagnosed, and i really don’t think i could go through that again.  even more so now that i know and fully understand what the diagnosis really is.  nearly 4 years ago, i was devastated, and i really had no clue what i was in for.  it would be worse now i think.  sometimes it takes a finger poke to just reassure me that everything is fine.