Weekly Progress Report!

Here's a belated report on what I've been up to in the last week and a half! My goal was to tackle this pile (literally!) of projects that were next to my sewing machine:

I did tackle the pile, but in the process, I was also inspired to tackle my entire sewing area! Here is what it looks like now (sorry for the dark photo!).

The room itself is very small (8 x 10), and previously, I had been sewing on a table that was 2.5 x 3 feet. It took up quite a bit of space in the room, and most of the space behind my sewing machine was not useful since the table butted up against the window. I finally decided to install the desktop piece I had purchased months ago from Michael's (all of my storage cubes are from their Recollections scrapbook storage collection). With the new configuration, I have much more accessible workspace, and additional floor space so I don't feel cramped! The piece in front of the left side is actually a rolling storage cart, so it gives me a nice work triangle, but I can easily move it out of the way.

So, now on to the projects that were in the pile! First, I completed a recent WIP -- this is Thimbleblossoms' Jellybean pattern in Persimmon fabric by Basic Grey:

Secondly, I finished a full-size patchwork quilt in my long-hoarded California Girl fabrics by Fig Tree Quilts. This will be a new quilt for our bedroom!

The third project is a special quilt re-make for a friend of mine. I had previously done some repairs to a quilt that was made by his mother, but over the past two years, additional blocks had ripped, so I decided to deconstruct the top, replace some blocks and all of the sashing, and put it back together.

Some of the original blocks were pretty wild, so when I replaced a few of them in the previous repair, I had fun including some novelty prints that were meaningful to him. This time, I had to replace 11 additional blocks, so I put in a few more novely prints.

I also started a knitting project this week. I've known how to knit for a while, but I could never figure out how to purl -- until this week! (Thank you, youtube). I'm working on a pretty basic shawl. It's got a few imperfections, but overall, it's coming along.

So now that I've tackled the sewing room, I'll be returning to my goal of working through my fabric storage drawers. Next week: Dr. Seuss fabrics!

 

 

Week 3 Final Finishes

I had a very productive week with my Joel Dewberry fabrics. Not so much with dishes and laundry, but that's okay! I started out with three very full drawers of fabric, as well as some lilac Aviary fabrics that wouldn't even fit in the drawers.

Part of the reason I chose Joel Dewberry fabrics this week is that I received a custom order request for a lilac Aviary quilt last week, so I started with this quilt in my Bricklayer pattern:

I also finished this Hip to Be Square quilt (many of the blocks were left over from a previous project)

The remaining Aviary fabrics went back into a drawer, because I usually keep those "in stock" for custom orders. I then moved on to a different collection, Heirloom. I remember when this collection came out several summers ago -- I stalked my favorite online fabric store and ordered it at soon as it was in stock. Then it sat in a drawer for 4 years. My favorite of the three color palettes is the Citrine, and I had purchased some Kona Stone several years ago after seeing this quilt by Fresh Lemons Quilts since it seemed like the perfect background color. I whipped out my Accuquilt hexagon and equilateral triangles dies, and cut the pieces for this quilt:

These two dies are awesome, by the way! The hexagons are big, so they are great for featuring large scale prints, and the tops go together quickly and line up easily with the dog-eared corners and notches. They are so much fun to make that I also made one out of Modern Meadow and Moda Bella in Ivory:

Next, I pulled out some Deer Valley fat quarters. I had originally bought these to make a Bricklayer quilt, so that's exactly what I did!

I had enough pieces left over to make a small Hip to Be Square quilt, too!

After those tops, I went back to the remaining two colorways of Heirloom, and chose the Coming Home quilt pattern from Camille Roskelley's book Simplify. This one is the Ruby palette (I have no idea what the background color is -- a pale grey that matched quite nicely!)

...and this one is the Sapphire palette, with Moda Bella Snow. I'll be adding borders to this one and finishing it for my husband's aunt, who turns 80 this month.

After all of those tops, I am only down to two drawers from the original three, and they are still packed pretty tightly! How is that possible?!

So, who is my next designer of the week? Well, this blog challenge has been pretty intense so far (I've made 20 quilt tops in the last three weeks!), so this week will be sort of a break from the challenge. I need to quilt three of the finished tops, as well as work on a new twin quilt for my Mom's guest room, so I'll start with those projects. I do have a few miscellaneous drawers in my storage units, so I plan to pull out one "surprise drawer" this week to work on. Next Sunday, I will share this week's finishes, and resume the blog challenge!

 

Week 2, Final Finishes

I've just completed Week 2 of my Summer 2015 blog challenge series (you can read more about it here) and I have five more quilt tops to share today! This week, I focused on two drawers of fabric by Moda designer Chez Moi. I started with Coquette, because I had the most of that particular collection.

Since I've also been using this challenge to try out some different quilt patterns, I decided to go with a braid design. I used this free pattern from Moda, except I omitted the borders to make the quilt a baby size. I think this was a great pattern for the collection -- I like the way the colors and designs kind of blend together even though you can still see the braid. Making the braid part was fun and addictive, but I must admit that trimming the sides and sewing the bias edges together was a little scary!

After I finished the first quilt, I took stock of what was left, and realized that I had bits and pieces of many different Chez Moi collections, including Posh, Boutique, Swanky, Hunky Dory, Sophie and Coquette. Since most of the pieces were fairly small, I decided a coins quilt was the best option to blend all of these collections together.

I ended up making TWO coins quilts, and I love how unique each one turned out just by using a different border print. I also love how well all of those fabric lines worked together in the end. I chose to omit the purple from Coquette (since it was the only line that contained it) as well as a couple of the brighter red and blue pieces I had from Boutique. I absolutely loved seeing these come together!

And the purple didn't go to waste -- I used it to make a little minky blanket for our bunny, Fifi!

I still had lots of pieces left, but two coins quilts were enough, so I decided to make the cover quilt from Allison Harris' book Growing Up Modern (Allison's blog, CluckCluckSew, is one of my favorites!). This was perfect for all the little leftover pieces from the coins quilts.

The fifth and final quilt was made using the Flowers in the Sunshine pattern by Sweet Jane. I've made this one before, but it was a good way to use up the leftover charm squares and coins pieces!

I was able to use up an entire drawer of fabric, and now my remaining Chez Moi precuts fit in a single drawer.

This week, I'll be tackling my Joel Dewberry fabrics:

Even though they look pretty organized, the three drawers are filled way past maximum capacity, so my hope is to at least make some room in each drawer. I'll post some progress on Wednesday!

 

 

Wednesday Progress Report, Week 2

My summer challenge is to clear out some miscellaneous odds and ends in my fabric drawer system. I'm in week 2 of the challenge, and this week, I'm focusing on two drawers of fabric by Moda designer Chez Moi. Today, I'll give you a sneak peek of my progress before the final reveal on Sunday:

The collection I had the most of was Coquette, so I decided to start with a quilt featuring that fabric. I've never made a braid quilt before, and I found it both fun and addictive!

And tonight, I starting cutting pieces for the next project:

Yes, it's a coins quilt -- or maybe two? Stop by Sunday to find out!

 

 

Week 1: Final Finishes

This summer, I am working my way through my fabric drawer storage system, trying to clear out space, and make some quilt tops. Today, I'll show you what I made in Week 1, and give you a preview of Week 2!

The designer of the week was Sanae (Moda Fabrics). I had three collections stuffed in three drawers: Panache, Oz and Arcadia. I started with Arcadia because I was also working on a commission quilt from this collection. For that one, I used my Hip to Be Square pattern (note: picture was taken before I assembled the top!)

One of the bonuses of this project is that it gives me a chance to try out some new patterns. Usually when I'm scrap quilting, my go-to pattern is either patchwork squares or a coins quilt, but I decided to flip through some quilt books and branch out. Since I had a bunch of leftover charm squares and honeybun strips, I decided to make the Square One quilt from Camille Roskelly's book Simplify. It was the perfect pattern for my scraps, and very easy to put together.

After making that quilt, I still had some miscellaneous pieces, so the blocks in this next quilt were inspired by another quilt in the book, Sweet Pea. I made the blocks a slightly different dimension, and changed the setting (the setting was actually based on Camille's Piece of Cake pattern!). This photo was also taken before the final assembly!

I had never made a plus quilt, even though I've had it on my must-make list for quite a while. This next quilt was inspired by the Dream Big quilt in Simplfy, except I used larger pieces. It worked really well for my Panache scraps -- I just kept cutting and building from the center out until it was the desired size. Then, I used most of my remaining fabrics to piece a scrappy backing for when I'm ready to quilt it.

I was a little stumped when it came to the Oz fabrics. I had a lot of partial jelly roll strips, so I used the Happy-Go-Lucky quilt in Simplify as inspiration. I decided to make all the block centers the same (or at least mostly the same -- some are orange, and some are red) and make only the A blocks.

For the final quilt, I used a basic snowball block (although if I'd made the quilt Coming Home from Simplify, I would have only needed two corner triangles per block!)

So after six quilt tops, I am down to a single drawer:

The two empty drawers now hold some newer fabrics that were waiting for an open spot!

So what's on the agenda for Week 2?

Two drawers of fabric by Chez Moi. I'll stop by mid-week with a progress report!

 

Summer Sewing Series Week 1 Progress Report

I thought I'd share some progress on my Summer 2015 Blog Series. Each week, I'll be tackling a different designer's fabrics with the hope of using up some loose ends and clearing up some space in my fabric drawers.

This week, I am working on three drawers of fabrics by Moda designer Sanae. I started with Arcadia and made blocks for three separate quilts. I hope to assemble those tops tomorrow!

Next, I worked on Panache. I had quite a bit of this line, even though it was not one of my favorites. I decided to make a plus quilt, since I've always wanted to make one!

Since I didn't have any large pieces for a backing, I pieced together the leftovers to make this scrappy backing:

I already have one drawer emptied out, and tonight I'll be working on the last collection (Oz) to see if I can empty out a second drawer.

I'm looking forward to sharing the before and after pics of the drawers, as well as the finished tops, on Sunday!