Destash Sale!

I recently did a whole room makeover of my sewing room and came across a number of things that I probably won't ever finish.  In the interest of keeping my sewing space tidy, I'm having a destash sale.

Follow this link a separate blog page I created to list my items for sale, and please check back as I will add to it as I find more goodies.  Thanks for looking!

Not much progress

I thought I would get a lot accomplished over the 3-day weekend.  Turns out, not so much.  I did get all my arcs sewn and pressed.  Half my blocks are together (I'm only doing 16 "hoops" instead of 20 like the pattern).  I only need to sew corner triangles on the last half of the blocks and I have my eye on another Quick Curve Ruler pattern.

I really love the look of these Metro Hoop blocks, but I'm not sure I love the fabrics I used.  I'm going to keep plugging away to see how it all turns out!

Be sure you check in with Thelma and Nicole and see how their Quick Curve Ruler projects are coming along!

When sewing machines attack!

Nicole and I have been texting back and forth about our difficulties with the piecing of our Metro Hoops quilt.  Poor Nicole even suffered an injury when she was so focused on her piecing, she sewed her own finger!  Read about it here.  I'm hoping Nicole and her finger are better today!

I got through making my strip sets and cutting my arcs for Metro Hoops.  So far, so good.











My first attempts at piecing were a little less successful.  I had a number of blocks make it to the "discard" pile.  But now I think I'm getting the hang of it.  I'm glad that I cut some extra arcs!

Hooping it!

What better way to start summer than a sew-along with friends?  When Nicole and Thelma asked me to join them in making a quilt using the Quick Curve Ruler, I quickly signed on!  I've had the QCR for quite some time, but this was the final motivation I needed to get started.  I choose to make the Metro Hoops pattern and started pulling fabric.











I started with the Iris palette of Violet Craft's Waterfront Park collection, and added in some additional fabrics from my stash.

I made a test block (with scrap fabrics!  These are not my corners!)





Start your engines, girls!  I'm ready to go.  Please stop in at Cupcakes 'n Daisies and Sister's Choice Quilts to see what Thelma and Nicole are planning!

I came, I saw, I quilted!

My wonderful local quilter, Richla, recently added a studio on to her home and began to offer classes where you could come and use her longarm to quilt your own.  Oh, the projects I have....   I decided to start with this cute quilt I made as a shop sample for Keepsake Cottage Fabrics.

The pattern is Fishy Friends by Ribbon Candy Quilt Company.  The fabric is a Northcott line called Shark Attack.  The quilt pattern is Van Gogh, which makes nice, wavy looking swirls.  It was a little nerve wracking, but a lot of fun to quilt it myself.  I have another date scheduled in July to quilt a second one.

Here is  close-up of the quilting and the binding.  Have you ever made a Magic Binding?  So cool.  I will certainly be using this from now on with small quilts, especially kids' quilts.  Here's a link to the technique - all by machine and you get a little flange of contrast color under the binding.  The first three times, I followed the binding cutting instructions as written.  Next time I'm going to make my 'flange' fabric a skosh wider so a little more of it shows.

My other project for the last week has been a complete sewing room redo that involved taking out 3 pieces of furniture whose only purpose seemed to be collecting piles of junk!

The bookcase holds all my favorite patterns and bundles of fabric, as well as cute pincushions and gifts from friends.

I got a smaller sewing table and a pistachio green rolling cabinet for notions. Now my machine is under the window with lots of natural light.  Maybe now I won't need 4 lights when I sew.  At least not until winter!

I decluttered the junk - 3 donation bags and 2 bags of trash.

The center of the room is now wide open!  I can pull my cutting table out or move my Big Board ironing board into the center of the room when I need to press those long seams!.

OK, but here is my very favorite part.  All my rulers are hung on the closet door.  No more hunting for the right size square or trimming tool.  And really?  Did I need three 6-1/2" squares?

Here's to happy, clutter-free sewing!

Still Swooning!

Construction continues on my Swoon quilt.  I've made a couple of the 24" Swoon blocks to go with my 8" Mini Swoons.  I'm having a lot of fun fussy cutting special pieces of fabric to feature in the blocks.  I'm calling this my "Grown-Up I-Spy quilt" because I'm having fun burying some fun fabrics in the blocks.  Mustaches!  Mini Coopers!  Bingo Cards!  A girl in a tree!

Based on Camille Roskelley's wonderful Swoon and MINI Swoon patterns (find them here if you don't already have them!), I'm going to make up the layout as I go.  Still having fun and I love working with these bright colors!

 

Marching in the Parade!

I was excited to see that this month's "assignment" was a choice of any Thimble Blossoms mini pattern.  I have a few of Camille's adorable mini patterns in my collection, but it didn't take me long to decide on MINI Swoon, and on the fabrics.  I've been collecting fuchsia, pink, orange and yellow - citrus colors - and low volume/text prints.  How would these look together for a scrappy MINI Swoon?

I showed my friend Chelsey after making 2 blocks.  She told me I should make a whole quilt with 8" blocks!  Well, I'm not that ambitious, but it did give me the idea of making a Swoon quilt with my collection of citrus colors and 3 different sizes of Swoon blocks.  This quilt is still swimming around in my head.  But for now, here are my Baby/MINI Swoon blocks (8").  Soon to be joined by Big Sister (16") and Mama (24") Swoon blocks.

No, it's not sewn together because the blocks are going to get mixed around when I decide on my layout, but I hope it's ok to enter the parade anyway, Sinta and Sherri!  I can't wait to see what everyone else makes for April, and to find out what's ahead for May!