Oh hai! What day is it? WiP WEDNESDAY, HOMESLICES. That's what day it is!
Tell me you're all going to click that button and check out WiP Wednesday. It's so pretty. It's so buttony. DO EET.
So, let's gloat over those finishes first.
This week I have actually, um, kind of been on fire. In a good way! I got really sick of looking at my design wall covered in orphan blocks, so I decided to do something about them. While watching Red (Bruce Willis! Morgan Freeman! Helen Mirren! Spy and espionage and humor!) I started with my Elwood Rose blocks (made from the templates I purchased here), appliquéd a center circle using my Perfect Circles templates, and added a border. Throw in a little Insul-bright and leftover batting, a pretty back, and voila! Potholders!
Why stop there? I had a couple of blocks leftover from my Sunset Swimmers quilt which called out for doing something with...why not more potholders? Wham, bam, thank you ma'am:
I especially like the straight-line quilting on the back, with this lovely tile fabric I couldn't resist picking up in every colorway. The binding is the tumbling blocks pattern in Sanctuary.
Finally, I wanted to do a little skill-building, so I decided to dedicate these little tiny whirligigs to some free-motion quilting. Because they are so tiny, I decided to do itty bitty quilting to go along with.
This one is my favorite.
But I like this one too.
These were test blocks from my Nicey Jane challenge with Pinky, and I'm glad they are no longer languishing in a basket somewhere. Now they are trivets and can be used and adored every day!
My final finish (actually, my first finish) is the mug rug for underneath my dish drainer. My mom always used a plastic or rubber tray to catch the water; all of the places I've lived in until now have had stainless steel sinks with a radiating drainer. When we remodeled the kitchen here I opted for a ceramic sink and the cutouts of the Caeserstone didn't work with the sink we chose, so we needed SOMETHING under the drainer. I was tired of using tea-towels, and then I found this little bag of half-square triangles in my stash. They were already sewn, cut, and pressed to perfection. A few wiggles on the design wall and I had a pattern. I sewed it up in an evening and bound it with a remnant of binding from two other quilts. I love it and it makes my whole kitchen much more cheerful!
So those were my finishes for the week, and I'm decidedly proud that for the first time in AGES, I got something done!
I do have some stagnated WiP though...
- Swoon quilt (need to finish cutting the blocks and start assembling them)
- Os quilt
- Triangles quilt (new as of last week, but I got sick of it quite quickly)
- Handwork (curved hexies)
- 1930s repro tumbler blocks
Crying. Worst. Sob sob sob!
I have to bat, back and bind a few quilts, too...
- Sunset Swimmers (Mendocino mermaids)
- Garden Fence
- Kokka/Linen
I am actually really looking forward to getting my sewing machine into the dining room, slipping the Garden Fence quilt into my Bernina, and whacking a stipple on it. It's a wedding gift and it's embarrassingly overdue.
This week's new project was an accidental bonus! Aneela Hoey did a destash on Instagram (guys, seriously, get on Instagram and follow your favorite bloggers/designers immediately) and Pinky and I both had our eyeballs on the bundle with Heather Ross fishes (Pinky's fave) and Mendocino seahorses (me me me!) Pinky snatched it up as soon as it went on sale and we split the swag! Now we have to figure out what to do with it. This is my half.
I pulled some similar fabrics from my stash. Lots of light blue and orange.
I needed a solid that wasn't too "bossy" but that also wasn't white, snow, or charcoal...then I remembered I'd bought something like three meters of Kona Stone at Hobbysew four or so months ago.
I knew I wanted to do a block similar to the Rectangular Squared block from Film in the Fridge but I was NOT going to make them super tiny. (Well, those blocks FELT tiny, anyway. So I experimented and came up with a plan...
...and then put together a block!
Yep. I like this. It's 12" unfinished and the Kona Stone is the perfect color. It'll give those oranges and aquas a neutral enough background from which they can POP, and it'll let my bigger pieces of Aneela's scraps shine. I'm very excited about the quilt and I hope I can get the top done this week before Scquilters this weekend! (Oh how ambitious. I can hear you other mothers laughing now. Yes, I have a child who is almost walking and definitely teething. I will do my best to get some sewing in! Laugh away!) :)
Finally, on a non-sewing note, I just have to talk about writing for a minute. I'm almost done with this manuscript. It's at 85,795 words (my goal was 90,000) and the story is wrapping up in a pleasing way. I am scared of finishing. As soon as the final two words are typed ("the end", obvi!), the longest-running project of my life will be over. I've been plugging away on this story since March 2010. I think I'll be done by the end of this week. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. In some ways, this project is one of the most important things I've ever done. I will try and write a proper blog post later this week for those who are interested! Talking about writing is one of my favorite things, but might not be yours – so I'll be sure to label the post really clearly. :)
Phew! So that's a big week!
So, what have you guys been up to this week? What finishes and WiPs are in your quilty arsenal? Make sure to head over to Lee's and link up, and check out the other beautiful WiPs for inspiration. I'll see you there!
Cheers,
Penny xx