WiP Wednesday #8 - Finally, I Swooned

Yes, I finally managed to finish a Swoon block! 

I really like it.  But I have decided it is not what I want for my bedroom. 

However...it is perfect for my living room!  So I have decided to turn this one into a mini quilt/wall hanging.  Last night I stayed up way too late adding the 2 1/2 in white sashing that is called for in the pattern, then cut out and sewed into strips a 1-1/2 inch pieced scrappy border.  I will then add another border of white and then probably a red binding.

I am really excited about this, because I finally have something to put on the wall above my couch.  I have a HUGE, vaulted wall above the couch that has been empty since we moved here and I haven't known what to do with it.

Initially, I was going to make one of these ten dollar ledges because I don't have a mantel in this house and wanted some kind of surface to decorate by season.  But once I decided to make this a wall quilt, the vision came to me of how to deal with that empty space.  I hope it turns out as cute as it is in my mind.

I am still going to make the swoon quilt for my bed, I think.  I just need to decide on new fabric.

So, WiP #1 - Swoon  Quilt.  Worked on, changed, and added upon.  But...progress made, and that is the point, right?

Here are my stats for the week:

WiP's finished: 0

New WiP's - 0

 WiP's worked on: 1

#1 - Swoon mini quilt

Wip's NOT worked on:

WiP #2 -Denim Rag Quilt

WiP #3 - Star Baby Quilt

WiP #4 - Pillows

Linking to WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

and Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

WiP Wednesday #7

Another WiP finished!  I finished the quilt I made for the twins preschool fundraiser. 

It's ok, but I'm not in love with it. You can read all my complaints about it here.  You've been warned :)

The only other WiP I worked on was my first Swoon block. 

FI-NA-LLY!

It's so sad that it has taken me this long to get moving on it.  I had it cut out in January.  JANUARY.  Like, over 4 months ago, January.

But, you know how life goes.  Other stuff comes up and gets in the way, and regular life happens and the fun stuff gets put aside for awhile. 

But anyway, I pulled it out last night and started on it.  I will probably have it all sewn together tonight.  I am excited to finally see it put together!

Here are my stats for the week:

WiP's finished:

 WiP #1 - Fundraiser Quilt

 

New WiP's - 0

 

WiP's worked on:

WiP #2 - Swoon

 

Wip's NOT worked on:

WiP #3 -Denim Rag Quilt

WiP #4 - Star Baby Quilt

WiP #5 - Pillows

Total = 1 finished, 4 current WiP's

Linking, as usual, to Freshly Pieced :)

 

 

A Few Projects

I have spent the last week or so trying to gather the things I need, and start on a few different projects.

This is how it happens a lot for me...I won't have much on my plate, craft-wise, for a bit and think I can take my time.  Then suddenly, I have a handful of half-finished projects that usually have a variety of pressing due dates.  Not half-finished because I don't finish them, because I hate unfinished projects and almost always finish everything I start, but half-finished because I will acquire one (or two or five) new projects that need to be finished first.

For example, when I started this little blog, the only thing I had on my creative plate was The Bed Quilt.  Now I have the twins fundraiser quilt that has to be done within the next two weeks. 

Fabric cut for Fundraiser Quilt.

Deadline for Fundraiser Quilt: Feb 19th.

In addition, I am the Primary Secretary in church, and with the start of the New Year, we have had new projects due for Spotlight, Birthdays, etc.  And of course, I love to do anything crafty, so I had no problem taking on the job of making a felt birthday cake, and create some Spotlight stickers in Photoshop.

I used elements from LDS Blog Train's "Choose The Right" theme kits to make these stickers.

This week, I need to cut out the words of this year's Theme with my Silhouette, and work on a photo board of all the children for the Bishop's office.

Deadline for Theme cutouts - Possibly Feb 9th or ASAP.

Deadline for Bishop's Photo Board: ASAP.

Also, my sister called me and asked if I could make 6 or 7 initial embroidered keychains for her to give as gifts.

Deadline for Keychains: Early to Mid-March. 

A bag for a friend that needs to have a name embroidered on it.

Bag Embroidery Deadline: ASAP 

Now, my list above may not seem like a huge load to some people, but as I have mentioned before, trying to get anything done with three Hooligans running around is near impossible.  For one, I don't have a dedicated sewing room so I have to sew in the family room...which is also The Room of Destruction for my boys.  So needless to say, I can't leave any of my "toys" out. 

While I do leave my sewing machine out, my boys know that they CANNOT touch it under threat of grave injury (or at least being sent to time out.) However, I can't leave out the iron, spray bottle, accessories, scissors (obviously!) etc, or they will be lost, broken or destroyed in some other creative way before I can can say, "Don't! Touch! Anything!"

So, every time I get a chance to work on something, (which is, of course, only after The Hooligans are in bed for the night,) I have to haul everything out from the office closet and bring it out to the Family Room.  Then, when I am done for the night, I have to pack it all up again and haul it back.  It is the same way with anything I don't want my boys to destroy. 

So while some people may look at my list of current projects and think, "What?  I could get that all done in an evening!"  For some of us, things are not quite so easy.

But lest I be accused of doing absolutely nothing on my projects, here is some photographic evidence that I have been able to sneak in a moment or two of sewing:

Playing on my new Bernina - trying out some of the decorative stitches.

And yes, even cutting out fabric for a Swoon block...I am still squeezing in time to work on TBQ!

Fabric Love and Other Things

I got my fabric in the mail on Saturday. It was a fat quarter bundle of the entire line of Love by Amy Butler.

First thing I did was separate it out into my initial, gut-reaction yes/no fabric piles.

Obviously, in getting the whole line of fabric, there are going to be some pieces that I don't like as well, or that I just feel won't go with the idea that is my head right now.  (Those are the ones in the pile near the top of the picture, if you can find them among all the clutter on my table right now!)

Then I grouped them into sets of two (because I need 2 co-ordinating or contrasting fabrics per block), and will let them sit together for awhile until I decide if they are playing well together as friends. 

I still need to go get my background material before I can start piecing the blocks together.  AND....I have a feeling I will be ordering a few more bits of fabric before I get everything sorted how I want it.  But that will happen a little later on, after I have started the blocks and see how my fabric combos are coming along.

In other news, I have another, more pressing project that needs to be finished within the month.  My twins go to a co-op preschool.  And because we do not get state funding, we have fundraisers throughout the year to raise the needed money for the school.  Each parent must participate in 2 fundraiser a year to fulfill their obligation, and keep tuition costs down. 

For the current fundraiser that I am participating in, a Spaghetti Dinner, we decided that each parent on the committee would donate a gift basket that could be bid on throughout the evening, with the proceeds going to the school.  So, of course, I donated a quilt.  It will be a small quilt, probably the same pattern as Clover's Patchwork quilt that I did last year, so it shouldn't take much time.  I have to go get the fabric for that, which I plan to get all on sale or with coupons at Jo-ann or Hancock.  Doing that will minimize the cost out-of-pocket, and hopefully maximize the end profit for the school.

So...while still no actual work done yet on TBQ, I am warming to my fabrics and am itching to get to the fabric store!  Unfortunately, getting there is not as easy as it should be, but more on that dilemma later.

Fabric

So I have a pattern.  Now, to decide what to make it out of!  Hmmmm.....Well, let's talk about the process of picking fabric.  I know there are probably plenty of quilters out there who grab a stack of fabric, pick a pattern in 5.2 seconds and go at it.  I am (usually) not that way.

Last year about this time, I made a baby quilt for one of my BFF's new baby girl.  I literally bought fabric three times to get it how I wanted it. 

Yet, on the other hand, I decided last minute to make a quilt for another friend's baby girl.  Because the pattern I chose was fairly simple, I was able to pick the fabric in one trip to the fabric store.

So, I suppose, really, the ease of choosing fabric for a project, for me, depends on the project. 

TBQ was not so easy.  When I initially decided to make a quilt for my bed, I decided on fabric first.  I was going to use Buttercup by Fig Tree Quilts, regardless of the pattern! I loved the line, but I did have some reservations.  First of all it was pretty traditional, which in general, I would say is totally my style.  But for some reason, I felt I wanted something more vivid in this quilt.  I was envisioning something more deep reds and dark blues.  Also, I figured my husband would probably appreciate something a little less "girly."  So I set the idea of "Buttercup" aside and kept looking. 

Once I actually bought the pattern and had to decide on fabric for reals, I thought a bit about Fig Tree's newer line, Butterscotch & Roses.  It had the red in it, but as much as I usually love brown, it had a lot of it, and again, I had VIVID in my mind.  So, I scratched the idea of Butterscotch & Roses, and figured I would just have to wait until some new fabrics came out that grabbed me.  Darn it.

Then, before totally giving up, I decided to do a random search for fat quarter bundles on Etsy, just to see what was out there.  And then I saw a bundle of Amy Butler's LOVE line.  And I was, well, in love.  A little more modern, and a totally different color palate than I originally pictured, but I knew as soon as I saw it, that I wanted it in TBQ.  Again, that gut reaction, along with my previous musings, and I had picked my fabric.

And now I wait impatiently for the mail every day until it arrives!

Picking the Pattern

So the pattern I chose to make for "The Bed Quilt" (TBQ) is Swoon by Camille Roskelley.  I knew the minute I saw it that I had to have it on my bed.  But since I am writing about the process of choosing the pattern, I suppose I can't just leave it at that.

I suppose, if I am going to tell the story, I should start at the beginning.  And the beginning, as far as my master bedroom goes, starts at our wedding. 

We got a bedding set when we got married.  And I HATE our bedding.  Hate.  Ugh.  Can't stand it.  And I think because I hate it, I have never bothered trying to decorate our bedroom in the whole seven years The Hubs and I have now been married.  Because, not only does the bedding, (which, let's be honest, is the focal point of the room) not inspire me, I think it actually drains the creativity out of me just looking at it.  I don't even want to try to "work with it," so I've just let it be. 

So, last year when I really started quilting, I decided one of the first things I wanted to do was find a great pattern and finally make myself some bedding that I LOVE.  Yes, you read that right, last year.  I looked and looked, but nothing really grabbed me. 

Now, in discussing that process of choosing a quilt to make, I think it is important to know what you like, or, if you see something that is different than what you usually like, to be able to identify what it is that you really do like about it.  I didn't have anything specific in mind when I started looking for a pattern.  But there are things that I am more drawn to.  I know I love Stars.  And Dresdens.  And Hexies, and Cathedral Windows, and...etc.  I know I like a mix between modern and traditional.  I know I like a bit of shabby and/or vintage.  In other words, there are things I knew I liked, but I was also willing to be open to something that caught my eye.

I finally saw something I liked...this picture of a charm square quilt over at Crazy Mom Quilts.  I loved the colors, and I loved that it was fairly simple.  But I wasn't sold.  For some reason, even though I really liked it, I couldn't commit to it.  So, the idea of making TBQ was put on the back burner while I focused on some other projects.  I kept my eyes open, but wasn't actively looking.  Finally, some months later, I saw the Swoon pattern, probably on Pinterest, and loved it immediately.  It had a lot of the qualities that I generally like about quilts. I pretty much decided then and there that I had found TBQ pattern! 

So there it is.  The first step in my quilt making process...deciding on a pattern.  Just like a lot of other decisions, I think it just comes down to a little bit of knowing your personal aesthetic, and a little bit of going with your gut about what you love. 

Now to choose the fabrics!

The Process

I have had people ask me, when I make a quilt, how I decide on the pattern, fabric, etc.  So, since I am just starting the process of making a quilt and pillows for my own bed, I thought I would document the entire journey here.  Even if nobody really cares enough to read, it will still be a fun thing for me to do and keep for myself as a record. 

Now, a few things I should point out. 

First, I have three very young boys.  Twin three-year-old's and a one-year-old.  They keep me either a) too busy to do much sewing during the day, or b) are too mischievous for me to be able to leave any large part of the process out and about to work on as I please throughout the day without risking certain destruction.  Therefore, I mainly do my sewing at night after The Hooligans, as they are lovingly called in our house, are in bed. 

This is important for two reasons:

1- This quilt may take me a longer time to finish than it should.

2- Any pictures I take of the process are bound to be taken at night under terrible lighting and with a flash.  Besides the fact that I am by no means a professional photographer, nor do I pretend to be.

The second thing I should mention is that I may start another (or two or three) project during the time I am making my bed quilt.  Fortunately, I rarely leave projects unfinished.  I may put them on hold for a bit, but I always come back to them within a reasonable amount of time.  I just hate leaving things unfinished.  Why do I mention this?  Because, I plan on blogging about all my projects here so my posts may not be consistently about my MAIN project (which, while I may come up with a catchy title for it at some point, as for now will be known (boringly) as "The Bed Quilt.")

So there you have it.  I do have a goal to have this project done and on my bed by the end of the year.  That is being very generous, but I have quite a few other projects in the wings, and like I said, I may start a few of those in between the start and finish of The Bed Quilt.  Also, when I say "finished," I mean, quilt and any and all bed pillows to go with it. 

On your mark, get set, SEW!