Window Boxes - Finished!

Window Boxes is finished!  It reminds me of window panes and it is made of boxes. 

The front:

The back:

The official window and boxes pose:

Good thing we moved recently and still have all the boxes around for the photo shoot.

 A close up of the back.  It is a polka-dot fabric.  And it is the first FMQ quilt that I've done.  And the first one on my quilting frame.  There are many places where my lines aren't as straight as they should be, but overall I'm very happy with it.  And it went so much more quickly!  And I didn't have to wrangle the quilt through a small necked sewing machine!

It finished up at 34.5" square.  The pattern is for sale here (baby and throw sizes).  This quilt is also for sale...for now you can contact me directly if interested.

Linking up with TNT Thursday, Whoop-whoop Friday, LAFF, sew & tell, Fabric Tuesday, and Quilting by the River

Tetris, I-spy, helping

The next tetris block is together!  I'll admit...I had a hard time with this layout.  Since I'm using the same color for all similar pieces, I don't want them to be touching and becoming a blob of color.  There were so many of the same piece in this set though that I had to become a little creative.  I moved the block location within the quilt, skipped one or two pieces, added the last piece from week 1 that I didn't use last time, and allowed myself empty space.  This last part was probably the hardest since everyone knows that in Tetris, empty squares are bad!

I took a vacation and since I didn't have a sewing machine I started fussy cutting some of the fabrics for the I-spy/matching/maze quilt.  There are two of each, although it is hard to tell from the photo.

Finally, my mother-in-law started making her first quilt!  I'm super excited about it.  We picked out fabric together at her LQS.  (I could seriously spend a fortune in there.  I love pretty much everything that they have!  But I made it out of that trip without buying anything.)  She got some really cute fabrics.  She is cutting and piecing it in a different city, so we've been exchanging a few emails and phone calls.  This is her first block...look at how well the center lines up!

Joining WIP Wednesday.

WIP

Happy Wednesday!

1) I started a Tetris quilt-along at Happy Quilting.  This is my first quilt along and I'm sure excited about it.  It's been so cool to see the other blocks that people have posted so far.  Mine is a little different as I'm using a black background and keeping the various shapes the same color.  (I.e., the squares will always be dark blue.)

2) I started making red hearts for the heart quilt.

3) I am almost done quilting a baby quilt!  It's been super fun and has gone really fast.  I started it on...Saturday I think and have only done a little bit each day.  It is a FMQ with squares and rectangles.  My lines aren't perfectly straight, but overall I'm happy with it.

I'm joining WIP Wednesday.

Behind the Seams - oldest fabric

Welcome to the very first  Behind the Seams!  (See the bottom of the post for more information on how this works.)

 

This month the linky party is a post about your oldest fabric.  Some details you may want to include are where you got it, what you've used it in (or why it is still sitting on the shelf), whether or not you even like it, etc.

Here are my two oldest fabrics.  I picked them up in a thrift store because I needed something to cover the cake table at my wedding. 

 

One of them is a dark purple...burlap?  I'm not very good with fabric types.  It is a very pretty color, but the weight and texture don't lend themselves well to matching any of my other fabrics.  The other one (no close up) is a grey-purple.  It is also not cotton and looks like it might have been used for clothing in the 80s.

But in the end I went to the local fabric store and got a light purple cloth to cover the table.  I like this color a lot, but I haven't found a place to use it.  (Except for that one little corner that I cut out...and I have no idea what I used that piece for.) 

 (Here it is in action.)

So...I guess that was more than just one piece of fabric, but they were all acquired around the same time and long before anything else that I have.


Next month we're featuring our ironing boards.  Such a boring piece of equipment, but still very important.  Besides a picture of your trusty ironing board, some things you may want to talk about are what it looks like, where you store it, if you've recovered it, and what you like and don't like about it.

edit: This was the first linky party and after the fact I'm changing how it is going to work.  The changes will be implemented Aug 15.

How this linky party works...post about the topic of the month whenever you need an additional blog post.  I often find that I just work on the same thing for a long time and while I post a lot of progress pictures, there's only so much to say sometimes.  This topic is so that you can have sometime to post about that has nothing to do with what you're making.  Add a link to my blog in your post and link up!  I will be keeping the parties open for a year, but would recommend that you join within the first month.  Also, if you have posted about the topic in the past you are still welcome to link up...it doesn't need to be a new post.  (Special note for July 15-Aug 15: feel free to post your ironing board post and then join the link up that will be posted August 15).

Thanks for joining me!  Please make sure to visit some other people that are partying along with us too!

Mending

My mending is done!  Hurray!!

Here is a mosaic of it all.  They aren't good pictures, nor is the sewing very good, but documenting it helped motivate me.

From left to right and top to bottom...
1) I removed a distracting label
2) I fixed a split seam
3) I sewed on a button
4) I fixed another split seam
5) I fixed yet another split seam
6) I reattached a belt loop
7) I fixed a shirt
8) I attempted to fix a tear in an old quilt...not pretty, but at least it shouldn't get worse.
9) I reattached strings to a piano seat cushion
10) I fixed the first quilt I made.  (Bad seam tolerances do haunt you.)
11) I added some darts to a skirt
12) I hemmed some pants
13) I made a car sun-shade
14) I fixed pillow cases that match the quilt in #10.

Phew.  Hopefully the pile will remain small for a while now.  Or that I can at least ignore it for a while again.

Progressing along

Here's what I've been up to:

1) Hearts! I now have two blue and one yellow one done. The templates are almost correct, so they're going a lot faster.

 

2) Quilting practice.  I'm doing some playing around with some random things, some basic things, and also trying to figure out how to quilt the hearts.  I'm thinking a basic stipple with some teardrops (as in, all the loop-d-loos go downward) like the top of the whiteboard picture.  What do you think?

3. Buying fabric.  There was a tent sale today.  Obviously I need fabric to practice on.  And...some more too.  But it was on sale!

4) Oh, I almost forgot.  I got the linky all set to go for Behind the Seams.  This month we're featuring our oldest fabric. 

I'm linking up with Plum and June, Quilting by the River, and WIP Wednesday.

Beginning quilting

So, after a week, I managed to get the leaders made, put the sewing machine in place, take the sewing machine off a few times, get the speed control put on, and a few other random things that I've forgotten.  Yesterday I finally started sewing.

With several hiccups.  The machine was working fine when it was sitting on my desk, but it felt like I had problem after problem when it was on the frame (and hard to reach).  We (Gracie and I) did manage to get something real-looking sewn by the end of the day and it was working when I quit for the day, which is also a nice feeling.  I made a small pantograph to begin with.

Then today I continued on.  I still ran into a few problems, but not as many and they were getting faster to fix.  I did some FMQ (Free-motion quilting) at the end of the piece of cloth.  I probably should have been doing this first; it was easier to see when I was having problems.  I still seem to be having a bit of a problem when I'm going toward the upper-right...changing the tension and almost fixed it.  I ran out of room before I could completely fix it though.

Joining up with Melissa at TNT Thursday.

Followers

I wanted to name this post "How to make sure the people that you're following can see your blog using Google Friend Connect" but that seemed too long.

I always try to look at the blog of any new follower.  But for many people, it isn't listed.  When I went to see if my blog was listed in my profile, it wasn't there so I don't think that it is a default setting.  So, since it is tutorial day, here's what you do...

1) Go to the page of someone that you follow and click on your picture.  Hopefully you'll see your blog listed under Links.  Otherwise it's pretty easy to get it there.

2) Go to the blogger dashboard.  (I find the easiest way is by clicking the B in the upper left of my blog, but I'm sure there are other ways too.)

3) Click on the little down arrow by your name on the top right.  (Click the image to enlarge and see the red circle.)

 

4) Click Blogger Profile

5) Click Edit Profile in the upper right.

6) Click Select blogs to display

7) Click the blog(s) that you want to show up and then click save.

8) You should be all set, but I'd recommend going back to a blog you're following and clicking on your picture again to make sure it showed up.

Reaction Buttons

Some of you may have noticed that I recently put reaction buttons on the bottom of my posts.  These buttons are a nice way for people to quickly give feedback without having to actually write anything.  On my non-quilting blog they get used quite a bit, and it's nice to know that people read the posts.  (Beware though - the blogger has no idea who clicks the buttons.  So if readers want feedback or want to try and expand their own readership, comments should still be written.)

Do you want the buttons?  Here's how to put them on.  (You might want to click on some of the pictures to enlarge.)

1) Click the design link on your blog.

2) Click the layout link on the left side of the screen.

3)  On the "Blog Posts" area, click edit.

4) A pop-up window will appear.  Check the Reactions box.  Click edit if you want to change the reactions.

5) Put in your reactions, separated by commas.  Click save.

6) Enjoy!

June accomplishments, July goals

This month I didn't do as well on my top three goals, but I still got a lot done and have good reasons for not getting my top three done.

So let's review.  

1. Finish the shower curtain. This didn't get done because my LQS didn't get more fabric in that I need as expected.  I'm going to give it another month and then change the pattern if it isn't in.
2. Mend. This didn't get done either.  I only have one more item to finish up  and was planning on getting it done after my short vacation, only to find a quilter in the basement when I got home.  Understandably, the mending got ignored.

3. Finish piecing the coasters.  Finished!  They're going to be double-sided...I just need to figure out how to pair them.

4. Quilt the coasters - No progress.
5. Start a heart quilt.  - Started!  It took a lot of work to get the first block all made, but I think it is going to be really cool. 

6. Quilt the other baby quilt. No progress - hooray!  Now I have something that's ready to quilt on my new machine!
7. Come up with a design for the fabric I won. I'm still thinking.  It's amazing how many designs I'm thought about and tossed out.

Onward to July.  My top three should be pretty easy to hit.
1. Finish the mending.  (I really need to do this.)
2. Make leaders for the quilter.
3. Practice with the quilter.

And if I still have time...
4. work on the heart quilt
5. participate in the Tetris quilt-a-long
6. finish the coasters
7. start an I-spy quilt
8. quilt the baby quilt
9. come up with a design for the fabric I won
10. Make a pattern for the heart block

I'm linking up with Lily's Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet, Crazy Mom Quilts, Lawson and Lotti, and Tracy Jay's Just Three