Finished Hounds Tooth

It's DONE. And I am SO HAPPY. :D I am going to preface these pictures by saying that there is no where in my house to showcase such a large quilt, inside or out! I tried to take it to the park this morning, but the sprinklers were on. I was definitely not willing to risk getting it wet/muddy! I was also not willing to take a picture of it on my bed... because my room is a mess. So you'll have to be happy with these.

Draped over an Ikea chair

On my ironing board

Folded up

Back detail

I did straight line quilting on either side of ever long seam, about a walking foot's width apart. I really love the grid it made! Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad quilting it at home. It made my shoulders hurt some, but for the most part it wasn't much more difficult than smaller quilts I've done. I did have to lower my ironing board and put it behind my craft table so there would be more surface area for the quilt to rest on behind my machine. But that wasn't really a big deal.  I also had to pick out one row of stitches due to severe crookedness (it was done before I thought of adding the ironing board) and tension issues, which were fixed fairly quickly. I don't know that I would try FMQ with this size quilt- at least not yet! But it is good to know I can successfully quilt something this large at home!

I really like how everything came together. I wasn't sure about the binding fabric at first because it is so much lighter than the purple bits. I'm still not completely sold on it, but it is growing on me. I like the little sets of stripes. I machine bound this quilt. I have never tried hand stitching the binding down and I think I will try it on a much smaller quilt first ;) The backing fabric is a 108" from Henry Glass fabrics called Baroque Ivy Swirls. After how long the top took to piece, I really did not want to piece the back, too, so I went the easy route.

I am SO pleased with this quilt! It took quite a while, but I have dreamed of a hounds tooth quilt for my bed since I first started quilting. And now my dream has come true! I feel like I learned so much from this quilt- from accurate piecing to basting technique to quilting more consistent straight lines. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it in the end! I am going to pop it in the wash now so we can start using it ASAP!

I'll show you some pictures of Vegas soon, promise! There is a delicious Gordon Ramsay burger to talk about and another sewing project I finished yesterday- details soon!

Thanks for stopping by! Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF at Dreaming in Patchwork!

WiP Wednesday: Hounds Tooth

This is what I'm doing today:

Yes, that is my enormous Hounds Tooth quilt- all quilted and ready for binding! I promise there will be a post about Vegas and about quilting this bad boy, but I'm on a roll right now and can't stop! Hopefully I'll have a finish to share with you tomorrow :)

Linking up to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Finished Velocity Girl Bag

I DID IT. I finished my first "real" purse (as in not a tote bag). I messed up a few times, but I love it!

Eep! :D It's a bit bigger than I expected, but I think it will make a great travel purse! The Velocity Girl Bag pattern by Sara at Sew Sweetness was really great and easy to follow. I have only ever made a tote bag before (and I forewent the magnetic snap and zipper pocket because I had no time) and one simple shoulder bag and I didn't have any trouble following the directions. Most of the mistakes I made were my fault- pinning bits incorrectly so I had to go back and re-sew a few parts, mostly. And my machine does NOT like sewing through so many layers. It had a lot of trouble with the strap... I used home dec weight fabric, which probably had a lot to do with it. I think next time I'll use lighter weight fabric or forego the interfacing for the strap and hope that helps. Other than that, it came together pretty easily! Even the zipper! I am definitely no zipper expert and it is definitely a little crooked, but at least I feel like zippers are less scary now :)

Aren't the giraffes on the inside silly? I used all relatively cheap fabric from Joann. Since it was my first attempt at a more complicated pattern, I didn't want to spend a ton of money on fancy fabric for it. But I really like these funny giraffes! I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these pockets... Maybe my little zippy pouch has become obsolete! We shall see.

The only thing I did differently was to not make the strap adjustable. I couldn't find a slider locally and I really didn't want to wait for shipping from an online store. I'm thinking now I might order a slider and add it in, though. The strap is the perfect size now for a cross the body purse, but I might like to wear it shorter some day!

My new bag and I will be off to Vegas in the morning! I'm linking this up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, but I might not have a ton of time to comment on all the other lovely finishes until I get back. Have a great weekend! I know I will :D

Make a List... Tuesday?

Hello!

It was a quiet weekend on my little blog. I took a little break from sewing after the whirlwind of finishing my sister's quilt. I was a tad obsessed with it and pretty much spent every hour I wasn't working or eating or watching a movie with the boyfriend (I couldn't neglect him completely...) with that quilt. No regrets! It turned out great and my sister loved it :) She just got a new job, too, so I decided I was justified in giving it to her 6 weeks before her birthday.

After that I needed a break. I was also scheduled to work Saturday, so that was part of it. But then that afternoon I got a job offer from the place I REALLY wanted to work, so the rest of the weekend was spent celebrating. And, you know, booking a hotel room in Vegas since I won't be working this weekend anymore. It wasn't a total whim! Some of my old coworkers have been planning a reunion in Vegas and I soooo wanted to go. And I thought I would be able to when I finally got a job except then I got scheduled for Saturdays! But now I've left that position and have another couple of weeks off, so I decided to splurge and just GO. I can't tell you how excited I am! I haven't seen most of these people in almost a year... some much longer than that. We all worked together as undergrads. They were like my family. SO EXCITED. It is going to be legendary.

I also did this while on a break from sewing:

Yeah! Painted lamp shades. I was originally planning to cover them in fabric, but then I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to go for it. I love how it turned out :) The other one is not quite finished yet. Hopefully I can get to that this week and show you the finished lamps!

But sewing is what you came for, right? Well. Yesterday I did this:

Oh, man. Basting a queen sized quilt was a HUGE job. My fingers still hurt! I had to move most of the furniture out of the living room to do it. But it's done and basted and I've already started the quilting! YAY! The quilting is definitely going to take a while. That quilt it heavy. My shoulders get tired just thinking about it. But it's going to be so worth it when it's done... Just have to keep my mind on how pretty it will look all laid out on my bed!

Quilting this has already taught me one thing.

Variegated thread makes pretty bobbins :)

Before I get back to quilting, though, I need to organize my thoughts. There are so many things I want to do and make! I feel like I need to write it all down so I can get a handle on all my ideas and plan what to do next.

Things I need to do this month:

March Sister's Ten blocks
Quilt February's Skill Builder blocks
March's bee block (a sawtooth star! Yay!)
March Skill builder blocks

Things I want to do not necessarily this month:

Finish quilting Hounds Tooth
Turn my finished Sister's Ten blocks into pillows
Plan a quilt for Mario's birthday
Make a Velocity Girl bag (I already have the supplies!)
Make another dress
Make another skirt
Start my pinwheel quilt
Make myself some pretty potholders
Start a herringbone quilt using my other FQ bundle of Les Amis (I started designing this with the Quilt Design Tool at Thread Bias)
Learn to make blouses and shorts
Turn some silly flannel I bought at Joann into PJ pants
Make a Kindle case
Make a plastic bag dispenser

WOW. Okay, I want to do more things than I thought. And I will probably think of more. But at least I got them out of my head for now. I don't think I will be able to do all of this list in a month! Maybe they should be more long term goals? Ah, well. We'll see how I do. And now, back to sewing!

Linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday with Randi at i have to say... and WiP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced, hosted by Claire from Sewing Over Pins this week! :) Have a great week!

First Quilty Finish of the Year!

YUP. I did it. I finished my sister's quilt!!

Isn't it great? I love it! I almost don't want to part with it... but I do have another stack of Les Amis fat quarters for myself, so I guess parting with it won't be too hard. I want to give it to her today (it's 6 weeks early, but whatever) so I didn't have a ton of time for pictures before I popped it in the wash. I'll try to get an up close shot after it's all nice and clean :) An up close shot right now would reveal all the dog hair it has somehow accumulated already. Hazards of having a husky!  I fortunately had some fun brown polka dots on hand for the binding, which I love. It is entirely machine bound, which I also love. I like the way machine binding looks, though I might be alone in this! I backed it with some silly animal fabric from Joann that I had around- it doesn't match terribly well (except that it's owls and foxes!), but I was running out of money and didn't have a lot of options. Well, I could've waited until I got a job and some money. But... well, I'm not good at waiting :P

Still, I love it! I am so proud of myself for just jumping in with FMQ and doing it. I think it turned out pretty well for my first time. My stitches are pretty uneven in places and there are a few spots where it slipped and caused a sharp corner instead of a round one, but it's really not that noticeable. I think I will get some quilt gloves next time to prevent the slipping, at least. I feel like I learned a lot from this quilt. My quilting towards the end was much more consistent and pretty than the beginning. Next time will definitely be better.

Also! I forgot to show you. Remember when I said I decided to join my first ever swap? Well I finally got my pretty low volume charms in the mail last week!

This is just a small sampling. Aren't they wonderful? Look at those fun little pins! And the hounds tooth! I couldn't be more pleased! The swap was organized by Lori of Lori H. Designs. She did a fabulous job of it! It was my first swap and everything ran so smoothly. It was definitely not as scary as I thought it would be! I will definitely be on the look out for more swaps in the future. I'm trying to decide what to do with all of these pretty charms. I kind of want to make a low volume pinwheel quilt. Maybe with a few scattered pinwheels with bright, bold solids for interest. What do you think?

I already have so many ideas already spinning in my head of the next projects I want to start... I think I need to make a list. I'll spend some time thinking about that this week and tell you what I come up with!

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts! YEAH! So excited to have a whole quilt finished!! Next I need to tackle quilting the Hounds Tooth quilt... but first I need to find a place in my house big enough to baste it!