Friday Finishes

Not a lot of finishes this week.  I spent most of the week plugging away at my Jamestown Landing.  I posted the other day that I was all done my broken dishes blocks.  All 210 of them.  Well, I was wrong because I apparently miscounted along the way.  I only have 200.  I must have counted a group of ten twice.  Grrrr.  Now I need to cut enough different HST's to make it keep its scrappy look.  That should be fun.  Not.

Block 2

I did the block above for the quilt along at Quilting Gallery.  It was a pretty fun, quick block to do.  Its huge.  It's 16.5" x 16.5".  I have been pressing my seams open on this quilt and I am really starting to like it.  My blocks are coming out perfect.  If you are interested in checking out the quilt along and maybe join us, its never too late.  Just click on the banner below and it will bring you right where you need to be. 

Last weekend I needed a fun quick project to do to take a break from Jamestown Landing.  I had been wanting to make some pillow covers for our grungy pillows on the couch for a long time.  The picture above is what I came up with.  Pardon the wrinkles but I decided to take a nice little nap today on the couch before I remembered that I needed a picture of it. 

This is the back.  Just a simple cover that we can take off and wash when needed.  Next time I make one I am going to have it over lap just a tad more. 

I got the pattern for this pillow from Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.  I have been eyeing this book since it came out.  Last week was my birthday and when I received an Amazon gift card, this was the first thing in my cart.  Blogs all over the internet are doing a quilt along with it and I have loved every block.   I am probably not going to join the quilt along as I have too many projects to do but this book is full of so much inspiration.  When I was trying to decide on a pattern for my pillow I grabbed this book and so many blocks would have been perfect.  I decided on No. 24.

One of the things I loved most about this book is that it has every block diagrammed over graph paper.  It made it super easy to enlarge this 6" block to 18" for my pillow.  I could very easily see that I only had to multiply all finished sizes by 3. 

I am going to try to get a second pillow cover done this weekend with a different block design.  I will share it when I get it done. 

Thanks for stopping by this week.  I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, Link a Finish Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

WIP Wednesday 7/2

I did some more work on my Jamestown Landing quilt (from String Fling: Scrappy, Happy and Loving It!).  I finally have all my HST's sewn into broken dish blocks.  There are 210 there.  Phew.  I have 67 string blocks there and I need 156.  That's going to be my next goal.  We are moving into a new place in the next couple months and I really want this ready for our new bedroom.  I feel like I am over the hump.  I really love how this is coming out.  It has a combination of scraps and specially bought fabrics in it.  I didn't have enough blue and creams so I had to get some more.  I threw in a jelly roll of Indigo Crossing by Moda.  Every strip is represented somewhere.  I LOVED that jelly roll.  It matched perfectly.  I also bought a fat quarter of every neutral and blue I could find on Connecting threads.  Don't you just love that store?  Then mix all that in with my scraps and I think I ended up with a great mix.

I promised myself I wouldn't start any new projects this month but here it is, July 3rd, and I have one in the works.  But for a good reason!  My Aunt and Uncle are becoming foster parents to a beautiful little 10 month old girl.  She is painting a room for her in the colors of pink and brown.  So obviously I had to do something for her.  :)  These are the fabrics I pulled.  I am torn between doing something easy and quick and something more intricate.  I have never been one for the quick and easy quilts. 

This is a sneak peek of a finish I am going to show you on Friday!  This is the very first time I have ever quilted something with just straight lines!

This week I am linking up to Freshly Pieced and Esther's blog.  

Quilting Gallery Quilt Along

This is my first block for the quilt along going on at www.quiltinggallery.com.  It's all about learning more about accurate and precise piecing.  

This block was pretty straightforward for me.  It was all half square triangles.  I got that method down when I was doing the 840 for Jamestown landing.  I did try something new and I might have to continue it.  Normally when I press I always pressed to the side.  Either the dark or the way that made sense so that I could nest the seams.  Michelle, the coordinator of this quilt along, talked about pressing seams open a bit so I thought I would try it and see how it went.   

This was the back of my block.  See how neat it looks!

 

All my points were spot on.  

If you want to join the quilt along there is a button on the side if my blog.  I would normally include it here but I am typing from my phone and can't figure out how to do it.  There will be prizes and drawings for everyone every week.  

This week I am linking up to www.crazymomquilts.com.  

WIP Wednesday 6/26

I finally made a dent in my Jamestown Landing quilt.  Its all I worked on all weekend.  It can be found in String Fling: Scrappy, Happy and Loving It! by Bonnie Hunter.  I finished all 840 half square triangles and I finished about 70 of 156 string blocks.  I started sewing the HST's into broken dishes blocks too but I didn't get a picture of that.  I can't wait to get this quilt done.  Its for my bed and the first quilt I have kept for myself in a long time.  I have been looking into sending it out for quilting because its going to be pretty big but I just don't think its going to be in my price range.

I posted awhile ago that I purchased these totes for organizing scraps and I would share my thoughts after using them for a bit.  I purchased two different sizes.  Here are the links to both:

Whitmor 6754-491-5 Plastic Document Boxes Set of 5 Assorted Colors

Whitmor 6754-977-5 Plastic Organizer Boxes Set of 5 Assorted Colors

I love them.  I think I prefer the wider flatter size.  They are not super sturdy as they are just thin plastic but they are great for small pieces.  I have my scraps sorted by color now.  The only complaint I have is that if you pack them too full the cover won't stay on.  But I had some small adhesive velcro dots and that fixed that issue.  I put all my bigger pieces, fat quarters or larger, in that tote on the bottom.  Now I just need to find a place to store them in my teeny tiny house.

This week I am linking up to Freshly Pieced And Esther's blog.