WIP Wednesday: Beatrix Bunny

There still hasn't been any quilting progress since last week, for some reason I'm just not in the quilting mood right now, but I have still been sewing and making progress (albeit slow) on my first little bunny, who I have lovingly named Beatrix after Beatrix Potter who wrote the Peter Rabbit series. I was a big fan of Peter Rabbit and all his friends when I was growing up, and hope someday to be able to read the series to my own children. I loved the Wind in the Willows stories too. Does anyone else remember those?

We've been rather busy lately it seems, what with having a friend/coworker in from out of town and lots of socializing, making some headway on sorting through all the stuff at Kevin's townhouse to get him fully moved into my place, and of course we had to watch the AFC Championships on Sunday to see the Broncos win their place at the Superbowl. Woo hoo! Go Broncos! :o)

So, here's the latter part of the week in pictures...

I ended last week with a few scores at my local Joanns - some pretty embroidery thread and needles, as well as 3 yards of super cuddly cream colored flannel that was on sale. Yay!

Little Miss Beatrix is almost done, I just need to finish up her dress by gathering the sleeves and waist. I'm debating whether or not I want to make her the wee little boots that were included in the pattern I bought to make her. I also want to make her some sweet little bloomers, and maybe even a petticoat. 

Just so that there's never ever doubt that she was made with lots of love :o)

I treated myself to some pre-cut 1" hexie templates too so I can give this whole hexagon thing a whirl. I see them popping up everywhere online and decided that I just have to give them a try! I think I'll use some of my leftover Soft Glimma FQ bundle to make my first few.

I got a fabulous new haircut on Friday, and was reminded yet again that I absolutely adore having short hair :o)

And because work has just been a *delightful* little slice of hell lately, here's the Christmas present I got for myself. I keep hoping that I will attain calmness through osmosis. So far, it's not working.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday: Pea Jelly Jam

If you saw yesterday's post you saw this little sneak peak at one of the projects I am working on...

Well, actually it's technically two projects.

I typically do not like yellow but there is something about this yellow and white print that is just so cheerful and sunny. I love it. 

For whatever reason they are showing up a bit darker than they really are. Hopefully next time I take pictures it will actually be sunny.

As I mentioned when I started this blog, it's my darling little nieces that prompted me to give quilting a second try and launched me full-bore into my quilting obsession.

I just cannot get enough of these happy little faces!

Well now Evie and Grace are about to turn 1 and I figured it was time I got my butt into gear and got a start on the quilts I'd been thinking about making since the beginning of October. I used the Jelly Roll Jam pattern from Fat Quarter Shop just like I did when I made this quilt for Kevin's Grandmother, so I got both tops pieced and pressed in an afternoon/evening. I haven't made any progress since then unfortunately seeing as we had to go back to work last week and I managed to pick up a cold somewhere along the way. Seeing as I'm feeling better now though I hope I can get back on the sewing machine and get them finished in the next week or so. They're not going to make it back to the UK in time for the girls' birthday, poop, but hopefully they'll give their favorite aunt a little bit of leeway ;o)

Oh, and that delightful pink pea pod fabric? I have that set aside as the backing for both quilts, because seriously, how could I possibly have resisted using it for my two little peas? :o)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced Modern.

WIP Thursday?: Boxes, Blocks, and Cats

So I didn't quite make it for WIP Wednesday as I was waiting for some new goodies arrive before tackling the huge amount of cutting I had to do for my Mum's Christmas quilt and the quilt I am making for Kevin.

I treated myself earlier this week to a new rotary cutter as my previous one is about as dull as a spoon. I'd originally planned to just buy some replacement blades for the one I already have but when I went to my local Joann's they were completely out of 45mm blades :o( So instead I bought the uber cute Olfa Splash (love the turquoise!) I also ordered a new Omni non-slip ruler and a box of Clover Wonder Clips on Monday. I needed a bigger ruler to make cutting WOF strips easier and I've been eyeing the Wonder Clips for a while now seeing as my worst pin-related injuries seem to happen during the binding process.

With my new cutter on hand I was able to cut all of the white strips for the Pyramid Dance quilt I'm making for my Mum. They still need to be subcut into rectangles and squares which I'll probably tackle tonight.

Seeing as Kevin opted to just hang out at his house last night I took the rare evening alone as an opportunity to get a start on his Christmas gift. For some reason I've struggled for the past several weeks to settle on a design for his quilt. I knew I wanted to do something in blue and white seeing as blue is his favorite color and I love the crisp and clean look of white and blue together. I also happened to have a butt load of blue fat quarters in my stash. I came across Allison's Orange Quilt Dimensions tutorial over at Cluck Cluck Sew a couple weeks ago and instantly knew that that was what I wanted to do. So last night I cut all 36 blue blocks and 31 white blocks (I didn't have quite enough white fabric for both quilts, damn). So far I'm really liking the look of the blocks :o)

I'm tentatively calling this one 'Blue Boy Blocks', though I hope he won't be feeling blue when he sees it!

And as always the kitties were interested in what I was doing, though at least last night they had an awesome new toy to keep them occupied...

As usual Silas had to be the first one to try out the box. This one at least was actually big enough to accommodate his butt, though I'm sure he'd like me to assure you all that he's not fat, he's just fluffy!

Emboldened by his brother's exploration of the box, Viktor (aka Little Monkey) decided to give it a try too.

Severus hung out nearby waiting for his turn.

And Lucius, always the gentleman, watched over everyone to make sure that they were all queuing properly. 

Work In Progress Wednesday: Jelly Roll Jam

There hasn't been much sewing going on here lately, or at least nothing that's far enough along to post about, seeing as I've been sick on and off for the past couple of weeks and haven't been up to doing much of anything besides going to work and vegging on the couch at home. But with Thanksgiving looming next week, and a trip to Iowa planned for the weekend, I decided that it was time I got my butt into gear and whipped up a quilt for Kevin's Grandma to take to Iowa with us.

I was originally planning on using a Honeysweet charm pack by Fig Tree & Co. and a couple other pieces from my stash, but after cutting all the Honeysweet squares into cute little HST I realized that unless I was planning on it being about the size of a postage stamp, the pattern I was using just wasn't going to work. Apparently neither Kevin or I bothered to actually read the part about the final dimensions of the quilt. Oops!

So I went back to my stash and found a Honeydew jellie by Fabric Central that I had been saving with plans to use it to make a little lap quilt for myself for the office. Luckily when I had bought it I had the forethought to buy two, so I didn't mind using one for this project. I've been wanting to try the Jelly Roll Jam pattern from Fat Quarter Shop for a while, and figured that this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try. I'd already watched the video tutorial for the pattern so I had a pretty good idea of how straight forward the piecing and construction is. I pieced and subcut the three sets of six strips on Monday evening, and then moved on to piecing, basting, and starting to quilt last night.

I really need some better lighting in my house!

Or maybe I just need to quit taking all of my pictures at night.

I love how bright and playful these colors are. It may almost be winter, but these colors make me think of summer :o)

I decided to go with a quilt pattern that would compliment all the vertical and horizontal lines of the quilt top but would still stand out, and settled on going with a simple diagonal straight stitch (sorry, no pictures of that yet).

So, my plans tonight are to finish quilting the top and machine stitch the binding, and maybe (if I'm lucky) start on the hand-stitching portion of the binding so that I can finish it up tomorrow and Friday. Phew, I'm sensing some very sore fingers by the end of the week!

WIP Wednesday and Halloween Pictures!

Progress on the Christmas quilt for my Nan has been pretty slow going this week as I've been feeling a bit icky lately. I refuse to admit that I am getting sick and so I am valiantly, albeit slowly, pressing on. I was able to finish the quilting on Monday evening and then machine stitched the binding last night. I then switched over the hand-stitching the back of the binding (oh joy!) and got one of the short sides done before Kevin made me pack up and head to bed. He's such a good boy :o)

I didn't get a chance to take any progress pictures yesterday so nothing to show on the quilt just yet. I'm feeling better today so hopefully if I don't start to feel craptastic again this afternoon I'll be able to finish up the hand-stitching and get some pretty pictures this evening.

So, seeing as I don't have any pretty sewing pictures to show I figured I could finally share the pictures from Halloween. Unfortunately I didn't get any full shots of my costume, so you'll just have to believe me when I say that it was awesome ;o)

Ooh sparkly! I swear I must have worn about a pound of glitter that night. I'm sure our gracious hosts, Bryan and Meta, are still finding glitter all over their house!

Striking the obligatory fairy pose. This one was taken at our work party where I went all out and donned my elf ears. They ended up being my favorite part of my costume and I was sad to take them off at the end of the day.

Kevin is so very photogenic. And check out those smoldering eyes!

Clark Kent showing off his stellar six pack.

Stealing a kiss from Superman :o)

My Mum looking absolutely adorable.

All of our pictures at the party and at our work do were taken by my friend Bryan. He's awesome and crazy talented. Check out his photography here!