WIP: Missing in Action

I have been terrible about sharing my in progress projects lately!  I have been jumping in with finishes, which isn't really what I like to do around here.  However, two separate Spring breaks spanning the month of March about dug me in a grave!  I love my boys being home.  I love a break from homework.

  But the house gets slightly VERY chaotic around here!!

Finishes (since my last visit to WIP Wednesday)

Tumbleweed Quilt

Going from recent to oldest.  I just finished my Rodeo quilt this past weekend!  

The quilt that is a nod to our Houston Rodeo that I love and adore every year.  

This quilt has been stolen from me.  You HAVE to go see by whom.

Primarily Sean's Quilt

Finished this right in time for an Easter visit from my sister and her gang!

Whether I would finish it WELL was a shaky at one point, but I am pretty darn happy with the finish and I still loved his name foundation pieced on the back HERE.

Spiders and Webs, part deux

My second go round with my Spiders and Webs tutorial.  

It is staying home.  Two of the three quilts in March are mine, mine, mine....or *cough* "ours".

Snowflake Row

 I have to admit, I was asked if I'd like to join the Winter Wonderland Round Robin when I was under the influence of pain killers in December.

When I came back to my normal lucid? 
I was thinking, "What did I sign up for?  A tutorial?  For a whole ROW!?!?? Not a block?"

But it all worked out.  It even got me to finish fixing my EPP tutorial from last November.
 I am pretty excited about finishing the other rows in the Round Robin.

  Not too late to join in!!!

In Progress

Do. Good Stitches 

Scrappy Feather Block

I'm late.  March blocks.

One down, one to go

Cat in the Hat

My other nephew's quilt is in the cutting stage. 
He is my godson, so I have to do this one perfectly this time! 

When I started cutting, I started to get concerned about the massive EXCESSIVE amounts of fabric I had ordered. (pssst..do not order fabric under the influence either, okay?) I was a bit intimidated at the thought of making a bunch of Dr. Seuss quilts for my Etsy shop.  I REALLY didn't want to do that many quilts with this fabric.  Luckily, a good friend has given me an idea...but it is top secret since my sister already knows about the quilt.  Some things must remain sacred around here!

Blush Quilt

I have finally had some time to dive in on the quilt I am making for my aunt that was diagnosed with breast cancer this past summer.  She is still fighting, so I want to send this too her ASAP.

I have made my block fabric choices and am still auditioning background fabrics.

 From Left to Right:  Stone, Pale Flesh (ewww for the name, right?), Snow
 Getting ready to cut out.  Which one do you like?

Stars and Stripes

This hexie quilt is clipping along at a decent pace.  I have almost all of my blue/white rows sewn together.  Not only the rows themselves, but rows together.  Just three more left to make the rectangle. 

Layout phase

I have had to take out the cardstock as I have been working because it was getting so large and difficult to take along with me.

Action shot.  Watching a movie.  My lap is fully covered!

  I am also getting excited because I now have a plan on what I am going to do with it and now can go back to the original design with the borders from the pattern (I was leaving them out before).  

New Project

Look what came in the mail two weeks ago.  

Hex on the Beach with Tula Pink!

Can you say?
Mmmmmmmmm..... 

However, I have laid down the law.  I am not allowed to start basting those sweet little hexies until Stars and Stripes is done.  There.  I said it.  It's in writing.  

Linking up with Lee

Did I tire you out after this post? 

I tired myself out!

Primarily Sean's Quilt

The name of this quilt has two different meanings to me.  Originally, I named it because my sister had pinned a million things on her Pinterest board when he was a baby...all of them with Primary Colors.  

The alphabet accents are also her theme for him.  So I decided to combine the two!

Now?  

I realize that the quilt is perfectly named because..yes..the quilt IS primarily for my nephew, but my sister might just keep it for herself!!!

 Here is the part where I tell it to you straight. I am sorta glad to see it go. This quilt has either been hanging over my head or given me heartache since I started in August!!  The piecing of the stacked coins from all of my scraps was a breeze.  The foundation piecing was pretty straight forward, time consuming like usual, but not over complicated.  Piecing my backing proved to be a bit challenging, but not anything I couldn't handle.

Quilting.  Quilting. Quilting.

 

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have caught whiff of my problems when I started to quilt! 

The first major oopsie was on my longarm machine!

I was swirling away in the Kona White parts...having a ball.  It felt natural and I was cruising.

However, I didn't trust my original measurements.  I was worried that if I had the name too low, the name wouldn't fit on the quilt.  Why I moved it down about 4 inches is beyond me!!!  I am absolutely dumbfounded why I went off the grid like that!  

Guess how much I was short? 

Yup.  4 inches!!!

 Luckily, I was able to cut the extra four inches from the top and pieced it to the bottom.  This led to a new problem.  I couldn't put back the quilt on the longarm.  *insert sad face*  

I managed to do my swirls on my domestic.  Getting my stitch length to match the original was tricky, but I was on my way!

My biggest oopsie?   I had planned to just swirl the background and let the stacked coins be un-quilted.

I'm not sure if it was an oopsie or just bad judgement or just a personal preference, but I did NOT like the way the fabric puffed up so aggressively.  Almost twisting as if batting was folded inside.  The picture above does not do it justice...but needless to say, I was not happy.

My plan of attack was to pebble the strips.  I cannot express how thrilled I am.  Not only did the front look better, but the backing did too!

The minky/cuddle fabric gave the hint of the quilting, but the softness of a stuffed animal.  All the stitches seem to sink into it.  I just love it on a baby quilt!

And I especially love how the foundation pieced blocks turned out on the back!  It also looked a little strange with quilting on half of it and no quilting on the other.  The one lesson I learned? It makes me completely appreciate my longarm even more that I did before!  My arms took a good long while recovering from all the pebbles and swirls!

The only other panic moment was the binding.  I loved the alphabet fabric from the start. It just seemed the perfect accent for what could just be another boring stacked coin quilt.  However, when I started to stitch it on, something nagged me.

I realized as I was handstitching it on out in the backyard while watching Button shoot some hoops,  the background of the binding fabric was VERY white and the Kona Snow is definitely not the same color.

But I couldn't resist.  I could have picked a solid fabric for the binding, but I couldn't take it off.  I love it too much.  My sister will just have to keep it inside or look at it by lamplight.  You can't tell at all then!

Now what?  Start my other nephew's quilt.  Stay tuned!!

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 44in x 54in

Pattern: Stacked Coins

Fabric: Coins-scraps, Background-Kona Snow, 

Alphabet Binding and Backing-Joann's fabric

Batting:Warm and Natural

Quilting: Pebbles (DSM) and Swirls (80% LA/20% DSM) by Me!