W.i.P. Wednesday: Super Sewing Weekend

My quilty friends & I have been sneaking off to quilt camp for awhile now.  It's always a challenge to synchronize our schedules but it's so worth it once we finally make it work.  This weekend the planets aligned and we headed to the beach.

I haven't started anything new since I finished my City Sampler so I was at a bit of a loss for what to work on.  I knew I didn't have the mental energy for a big project so I cut and prepped all the pieces for a long ago promised Sew Together Bag for my awesome friend Aimee.  I was worried this might be too preppy but she gave me the green light so I was ready to go.

This bag seems intimidating with it's 4 zippers but it really does come together quickly.

By the end of the day my bag was together and ready for binding.

Of course that's when the cursing started...  I ran out of bobbin thread inches from the end sewing on my big zipper.

Finally it was finished and I could move on to the next thing.  I'd just grabbed this basted Mendocino zigzag off the UFO tower.  I'm not sure why I thought it was going to take me so long to quilt this though I did plan to quilt it more densely.  In the end I decided it didn't really need it - why compete with such awesome fabrics - and this was done as well.

I usually make my binding when I finish constructing the quilt top but I couldn't remember if I had this time.  True to form when I got home I found a binding ready and waiting so I quickly trimmed my quilt and slapped the binding on so I'd have something to do while watching the Super Bowl.  We all know how that turned out;-)  That extra overtime was just what I needed!

This year's BostonMQG retreat is rapidly approaching so I've got to start planning what to work on during my next adventure...  what kind of projects do you prefer when traveling?

W.i.P. Wednesday: Camp Stitchuate

A few of my quilty friends and I have started a biannual tradition of sneaking away for a weekend of sewing.  Halloween is rapidly approaching so I packed my stack of Cotton + Steel Spellbound fabrics to work with.  I'd been stuck for ideas on how to use these until Aimee came to my rescue again  and suggested I mix in some other collections.  Once I pulled out the great big bin of Ghastlies it all came together.

My plan was to make fussy cut snowball blocks.  The center squares are 9 1/2" for no other reason than I had a 9 1/2" square ruler.  I cut triangles to the finished size for my snowballs to cover the corners so I could see how to center the motif before cutting.

Once I had all my squares cut it was a great mindless chain piecing project to sew all the corner triangles.

With all the blocks sewn I settled on the layout with some help from the peanut gallery

And from there it was more mindless piecing and excellent conversation to add sashing to the sides and bottoms.  Now all I have to do is sew all my rows together.  It'll be a stretch but we'll see if I can get it done by Saturday.

Did you hear the exciting news that Alexander Henry is releasing another Ghastlies collection this April?  Get a sneak peek at what's coming on Instagram...  I'm dying to get my hands on some;-)

Making ghastly things for this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

W.i.P. Wednesday: Sewing Binge

As predicted this has been a busy spring and I haven't had much time to sew so I was especially excited when the fabulous Materials and Method proposed another Quilt Camp getaway.  Packing was a snap, I just grabbed all the projects I'd planned to work on at retreat but never got to...

First up was the stack of fabrics I'd pulled to make a Preppy the Whale mini quilt for a good friend who's expecting.  She's going with a nautical theme for her nursery so how could I resist.  I can't believe how quickly this went together.  I had the entire top pieced before cocktail hour:-)

This project was also intended for retreat but I didn't get my fabrics in time (Thanks, fabric.com!).  I am currently obsessed with navy and coral, the perfect combo for this ingenious Houndstooth quilt from Quilts from the House of Tula Pink.

If you're someone who gets bent out of shape about "wasting" fabric this pattern is not for you.  I love that what looks like a complex design is entirely achieved by strip piecing.  I probably would have finished this one also if I didn't have a no cutting after cocktail hour rule.

While I was playing it safe I started quilting these Sunkissed pinwheels.  Endless rows of straight line quilting with pivots every 4 inches go so much faster when you're laughing so hard you cry.  This quilt will never fail to make me smile!  Hopefully my sewing streak will continue and I can finish some of these up.

Sewing all the things with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

W.i.P. Wednesday: The End Is Near!

My BQFs and I couldn't have asked for a better Quilt Camp weekend!  There is nothing like a nor'easter for the perfect excuse to batten down the hatches and quilt the days away!  As the storm raged outside we set up shop and got sewing.  

It's true Halloween has passed but rather than consign this to a year (or more) in the UFO pile I decided this was the perfect opportunity to just get this done.  Mindless quilting is so much better with friends...   plus chocolate, wine & Kurt Russell;-)

I probably would have gotten bored going around and around endlessly but with good company I pushed through and finished all 14 sets of rings.  Quilting all these circles I created my own vortex that sucked up everything in it's wake.  Between the crashing waves outside and spinning my quilt around I was starting to feel a bit queasy.

The end is near...  I just have to finish tacking down the binding and this will be ready and waiting with the rest of the Ghastlies when Halloween rolls around again next year.

Quilting it up with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

W.i.P. Wednesday: What a Weekender!

This weekend I headed down to the beach with some of my favorite quilty peeps.  I know from past experience I'm more likely to chat than sew so I brought along my patchwork Weekender pieces to quilt.

It doesn't really matter if I get distracted while quilting these and they go together so much faster with good company.  It's also convenient to have generous friends on hand who will let you shop their stash;-)

Everything is quilted now so I'm ready to start assembling the bag for my class at Quilter's Way next week.  I love how this is coming together and can't wait to see it finished!!!

Checking in at this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)