Liberty Love overload

I'm so happy with my Liberty Stile pillow that I posted about earlier this week.
{Thanks for all the love - it's super helpful with the few weeks I've been having}

Because of some instagram love, I've joined in a new Quilt Along with Penny Poppleton

Working from the awesome book Liberty Love book, I've had this book for awhile and cart it around with me during trips.  I so needed this QAL, okay need isn't the right word :)

Ohhh my it's so fun go check out some of the blog entries so far here.
Penny is giving some fantastic advice to nudge everyone along the way.

So, I'm going to show you some of my progress.

The interview process:


First this quadrant



And then a whole center!



Ahhhhhhh

I love how this is super fun and seeing how others are working along is totally inspiring.

Go check out the medallion check-in linky here with Penny Poppleton

And I'll continue to show my progress . . once I get a few more nuggets of advice.

Star Surround ~ Pieced quilt top

I finished my Star Surround quilt top.

Isn't this amazing?

This is a lovely large size!

I've loved the timing of this QAL and the instructions are fantastic!

Over in the flickr group I've seen a few other color combinations that I might have to make a new {smaller} one!

Melissa at Happy Quilting provides so many options that it was just too hard to resist.

The post about the assembly and other's finishes is found here.

Star Surround QAL ~ Surrounds

Have you seen the Quilt Along with Melissa with Happy Quilting?
Instead of people dropping off -  she's having more people join in.
Awesome!

This week we were working on the surround ... as I did the stars last week.

I broke it down to 3 surrounds a night.

I'm pretty disappointed with my flying geese. 
So I promptly ordered some bloc loc rulers. 
I can NOT wait to review these!
 

I love how these are turning out.  

It's amazing that this is sticking with me.
It's like Melissa has found the magic pattern and timing.
It's not too long for me to jump to another project.
{Although I have 3 "new" projects waiting for me}
 

Check out the others that are linking up here

Happy almost weekend!!

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Star Surround QAL ~ Building Centers

Melissa with Happy Quilting somehow has me hooked!  

This week we were working on the star centers

A little bit of sewing 4 nights and I got these beauties done.

I love how these are turning out.  

Can you hear the alternative music that was blaring while these were being pieced?  

Only 2 more weeks and this will be a quilt-top.  

Check out the others that are linking up here

Happy weekend!!

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Star Surround QAL - Flying Geese

Here I am again.

I'm amazed this Quilt Along is sticking with me  ... I'm easily distracted by pretty fabric!
Thankfully I have some pretty fabric in this beauty.

So you add a busy week and a little bit of stress. All made a wee bit better with some midnight sewing.




I have all these lovely Flying Geese.

Here is the link for Melissa Happy Quilting's flying geese instructions.

Bring on the next weeks task!



Star Surround QAL - Half Square Triangles

Melissa from Happy Quilting is having a well attended Quilt A-Long (QAL). 

Fantastic instructions. . and prizes!

Can you see how awesome these Half-Square Triangle's (HST's) are!

This is the HST cutting post.

Ohhh the trimming. . and trimming...and trimming.

It's never too late to join in with Melissa.

To be part of the prizes you'll need to finish the assignment each week.  But...she's even leaving each of the weekly link-up's open for the entire QAL.  I love that! 

Here are my lovely piles of trimmed HST's.

Pretty! 

Even with the glaring mistake, after I take the photo and post it!  

{lower left corner}

I can't wait for the flying geese next Monday!  

Star Surround QAL - Cutting

Have you seen what Melissa from Happy Quilting is up to?  Seriously how can I resist with these fantastic instructions. . and {cough} prizes. 

I zipped up this Starburst in an evening way last November/December. Wow this tutorial is fantastic.  I seriously can't believe this was over 6 months ago.

~~~

But now Melissa is sharing her Star Surround as a Quilt Along.

So I've chosen to create a 3x3 block layout. The blocks will be 24" x 24" and end up with a lap size 72" x72" picnic size quilt.

 

Scrappy of course!

This week's assignment is to cut the lovely pile of fabric I've chosen.

I picked-up some osnaburg fabric to try out.  I found this nifty fabric from the craftsy class Online Quilting Class: Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design with Jacquie Gering {This is an affiliated link}. What a fantastic CLASS!  I can watch her for hours - wait I have.

I patiently took the time to iron and starch all these beauties. 
And in one night - ZIP.

All of these are cut. 

It doesn't look like a large pile . . but it IS.
I now have to wait for the next installment next Monday.
Super excited!

Check out what others are cutting into.

Here it is. . super excited to get this sewn up!  Eeep!

*This post contains affiliate links

Postage Stamps



Oh my dreams are filled again with orange and white spots, dots, and squares.

This WIP finally made an appearance on my design wall as it's been on my to-do list since. . uhh ever.  I started this beauty with the Postage Stamp quilt-along over at ps. i quilt

Rachel's instructions are sparse but it's only squares. . right!

I finished up my 48 blocks and slapped these on my design wall. 

I've come a LONG way since I started this project.  I'm fighting to match seams and at times needing to bring out the trusty seam ripper. And I use the iron a LOT more today that I did back then, apparently.

These have only been on my design wall for about 30 hours and so want this done.  I'm over halfway sewing this beauty together. 

I've even started plotting of a design to try on the local long-arm quilting machine I can rent. I'm thinking a loop in each white square.

I'm working on this project as part of the 100 day hustle!

{GO ME}

I'm linking this post to the lovely

Jenna over at Sew Happy Geek

and

Megan over at Canoe Ridge Creations.

Happy Monday

 

Still sewing and by hand too!

 

I've been doing quilty things in between life things.

Kinda difficult with life being so busy.  Lots of things going on. 
I'm having to come to grips with some of my bff's leaving town, darn better opportunities and family being closer. 

To ease my pain I've been sewing on a few things, one of them is this hand stitched block.




My fella told me it's so authentic!  And the fabric is from England.  Oh my - I'm spoiled rotten!

I'm thinking I'll turn this into something else and make another without wonky edges.  I do love my first hand pieced block. 

This is the first block of a new Quilt Along with Erin over at Why Not Sew? I'm behind but it doesn't bother me. :)  I'm not sure if I'll do all of these or not.  But having a new tool is helpful!

Hope that you all are doing grand and a bit more productive than I have been the last few weeks.

Still working it. . that's right

I want to share some links to some local (amazing) bloggers that have some photos of the ice storm that we had. 

Becky over at Becky's Blabber is a local quilter.  We've had coffee a few times and have to plan a quilting night - she said with WINE.  Oh lala!  Some of her photos of the ice storm are here. 

A good friend of mine has a way with the camera. She hasn't posted in a while but she did post an amazing photo from this past storm here and here.

I've been blah blah blah.  I think it's because I'm forced to work.

I was able to catch up in my Sew.Happy.Quilt quilt along. 

This beauty is called Fireflies

I used this tute

And this is called Template Star Block

I used this tute.

My brain apparently couldn't grasp this block to save my life.  I re-cut this thing FOUR TIMES {yes, that is me cyber-yelling}. First I didn't have the template large enough, then I cut the white too small.  Then I re-cut this and I had the blue (used to be orange} cut on the wrong side - twice.  I used my seam ripper more times on this than I want to admit. Lalalala.  So eventually I got this block right.  And let me tell ya. . I'm happy to have it done with.  :)

 

Another block came out yesterday.  I might break into my fabrics soon - maybe.

 

Go check out the flickr group of the amazing 100+ participants and Jenna over at Sew Happy Geek {click the pretty button}.

 

Made in Cherry Progress Report 1

I picked out this lovely stack of fabrics specifically for the Made in Cherry QAL (blogged about previously here). 

And while some of these had to be swapped out because of quality most of them are the same.  I decided to spray starch ALL of these fabrics before cutting into them.  What a pain to pre-measure, what a lot of starch, a lot of ironing {not my favorite}, what a dream to cut, what a dream to sew.  Totally worth those hours of preparation.

 

I was able to construct the entire center 100 squares of the center.  I'm making the larger version with 5" squares.
  

The above photo is only 1/4 of the center as now I'm working on the points. So, as you can see the top point is pretty cool, and I now see the left one needs help! This is taking up a lot of room on my design wall. I'm so happy!

I told my fella this quilt was for him.  It's so large that it will be for our bed, but it's still his. He was so happy it made it very apparent that I need to make him a lap quilt soon.  Ever since I've been making things he is getting more into my hobby.  I {heart} my fella!

There are a few other people in this QAL.  Go check out Chelsea by clicking the button or the flickr group by clicking here.

Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL Blocks 1&2

Jenna posted her tutorials up for Sew.Happy.Quilt Quilt Along.  Photos immediately started showing up.  And I couldn't wait to break into my fabrics I picked out.

Blocks 1 & 2 tutorials are posted with amazing instruction along with photos are found.  I love being able to work off of photos!

Here are my two blocks.

Woven

Snowball

My fella is drawn to the snowball block.  This would be a lovely {easy} quilt all on it's own!  

I'm so happy for Sew.Happy.Geek! These are the first time I got to sew these blocks.  I love it.

I have these hanging on my design wall in my sewing room.  They are so bright and cheery this is going to be fun to make this whole sampler quilt!

Check out Jenna by clicking the button.  Or the flickr group (70 people strong) found here.






Tonight I really need to work on some other blocks that have deadlines coming up soon.  Lalalalala! What are you working on?  

 

Early on 2012 Quilt Along's

What a great year this will be!

How do I know?  I'm participating in two totally awesome quilt along's right off the bat!  There are the past ones I need to finish up but I'm going to try to get these two done while they are being published.  I think that may help in the motivation/encouragement.

With that I'm going to sign myself up for TWO QAL's start this month.  Both have seriously awesome leaders!

Jenna who blogs over at Sew Happy Geek is hosting the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL. She's a doll and mocked up a few layouts!  Yipee.

Here are the fabrics I'm going to use.

I chose these fabrics with the help of Jeni over at In Color Order her Art of Choosing series and my trusty color wheel.

I'm excited as this QAL should go pretty fast as it's a sampler block layout.

We start January 3. Go check our the QAL info or the ever growing flickr group.

The second QAL is with Chelsea who blogs over at Pins and Bobbins I'm so excited!  I adore Chelsea and I peeked over at the pattern and I need someone to hold my hand through this QAL. 

I picked these out and my fella commented how nice these were - a few times. Looks like I'll be making the larger version.  Eeep! 

I'm excited to start this January 13. 

Go check our Chelsea's blog for more info or join us at the flickr group.

Here's to less bee blocks in 2012 and more quilty finishes.