A Little Bit of This and ... That

Are there days when you don't feel like you get much done? You do a little bit of this and a little bit of that and by the end of the day it doesn't seem like you've done much at all? Well that's how I've been feeling. No complete projects...just a whole like of planning, un-planning, and moving things along ever so slowly.

The Squared Quilt is finally pieced together. It seems like this quilt has been sitting on my sewing tables for ages!


My goal is to get this baby done in time for the beginning of fall. Thanks Wendy for pointing out that the quilt has Autumn colors :). I didn't even notice it before since I started this quilt in the beginning of summer :P. I will make this my autumn quilt.

I'm in the process of moving furniture. My living room is skinny and long and basically small. It serves as out playroom, living room, reading room, tv room, semi-craft room, work-from-home-room, and a race track for the boys.  With 2 young active boys around, the furniture has been moved around like jigsaw puzzles. Hopefully we could find an arrangement that would make good use our of small space. Hmmm...maybe a house remodel is in order...arg! If only!



Somewhere in the mist of it all I'm planning out my 12 WEEKS of Christmas designs. Coming along, coming along. Here's my inspiration for this holiday season - 12 Days of Christmas from Moda.



More progress to come soon I hope :).

BTW - THANK YOU for all the kind comments on the Sweet Blocks quilt. It's so great getting so much encouragement. Thank you!

Sweet Blocks: Complete

The quilt that I had no idea how to quilt until I stared it for weeks is now COMPLETE.


Here's the completed Sweet Blocks sitting sweet after a tumble in the washer and dyer.

Here's a closeup and the reason why the decision on 'how-to-quilt' took so long:

I've never made a quilt with triangular shapes before. It took a lot of work getting all the triangular corners just right so I didn't want the quilting to distract from it or take away from it. 


I finally decided to do simple straight line quilting from one end of the quilt to the end with both the width and the length: along each seam going along the exterior of each block and 2 side-by-side lines x 2 down for each block area.  The results was a very modern, clean quilt with just enough details but not too much to distract from from the fabric and blocks.

Here is the quilt top that you could see quilting in action.  If you look closely you could see that on each block there are 2 double stitches that goes down and across.


Shot of the front:


A view of the back:


Kids alert - so I couldn't get a good shot from the floor like the front of the quilt.

Another view of the front by the window.  Love this shot because it really shows the true colors of the quilt:


For the binding I used a striped fabric - sorry I don't recall the name unfortunately.  I was a little hesitant to use it since it was so bright but when it was put next to the quilt it worked out just fine :).   The colors matched up wonderfully with the playful colors of the blocks.


A peak of the front, back and binding together:


I love this quilt.  It's not in the scope of colors that I usually use, but sometimes it's nice to step out of the comfort zone right? :)

Nope, this quilt does not have a home yet but it is not for sale either.  I may work on another one to put up on Etsy but for now this will have to be the only one.




Quilt Information:
Sweet Blocks
Front: 100% Cotton Prints (Keiki) and Solids (Moda)
Batting: Warm & Natural 100% cotton
Backing: Same materials as the front
Completed Dimension: 44.5″x 62″
Quilting Method: Machine Quilt Straight Stitches
Binding: Machine Sew to Front and Hand Sew to Back


Sharing the quilt on these following sites.

Keeping Busy - Very Very Busy

Besides from the regular 9-5, being a mom, cleaning, cooking and all that good stuff - there are still other things that keeps me busy - very very busy. 

I celebrated another birthday recently.  The best part?  This cute gift from my son Asher (3.5 years old).  Thanks Jeff for making this happen :).




It's been quite a journey trying to organize my sewing room.  Months of arranging and rearranging, progress is looking more real.

The stacks of fabrics that are organized, coded, and stacked ready to be used:

I have 7 stacks of these going based on color or main design: yellow/green, blue/white/black, brown/orange, red/pink, pink/purple, solids, and stripes.

...and the stack that still needs work...

Thankfully these are the ones I don't use all that often anymore :).

The corner of the one that is still in flux:

I MIGHT share some of this corner space with my husband...but I don't know yet since the room is so little and it's a SEWING room :P.

A glimpse of the cork-board-of-inspiration:


Summer has kept this household quite busy.  We are enjoying the great outdoors and I'm trying to keep up my little veg garden.

A bowlful of greens from the Mighty Little Garden just the other day:

Roll call: basil, parsley, red cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and chard. Doesn't seem like much, but it was plenty enough to make pesto pasta and a salad - for dinner AND lunch the next for the whole family.

Organizing my thoughts and gearing up for the holidays.  Yes summer just ended but I like to make sure I don't run behind.  I will update by soon with some holiday FUN :P.  But here's my inspiration to kick start the holidays:



12 Days of Christmas - Moda pack.

Cheers to more projects and creative time!

September Goals

September Monthly Goals

• Finish Sweet Blocks
  
• REALLY finish the sewing room reORG :P.  Been a little distracted last month but there's been great progress.  This month it WILL be completed!
• Finish Squared
  
  
  
• The start of the 12 DAYS WEEKS of CHRISTMAS!