Blogger's BOM #5

Here is this month's block for the Blogger's Block of the Month. It was designed by Quilt Dad.
It was fast, easy and fun to make! My kind of block! I cut everything this morning and just put it together this afternoon.

These are the blocks so far. I enjoy using Kaffe Fassett prints. They are just so full of color. You don't have to work too hard with these fabrics. They do all the work for you. So glad I'm all caught up with this BOM. I am all caught up with the mystery quilt also. I'm really concentrating on the baby quilt. I hope to have it done soon and can't wait to show you!

Progress?

Even though I am sewing quite a bit each day, I feel I am just not making the progress I expect to be making. I thought I would take some sort of inventory and share with you all.

Here is the baby quilt so far. I am working on the next row but the sashing is taking me forever! I must admit I am sort of a perfectionist and would really like this quilt to be nice and straight! I like it so far but it has to be done in 4 weeks for the baby shower. I hate working with a deadline. The few items I have made over the years for paying customers tend to take all the fun out of quilting. It's supposed to be fun and relaxing but it's very difficult with a deadline hovering over my head.

These are my 4-patch squares for the mystery quilt from my quilt guild. Unfortunately, I have to make 100! Last month, we only had to sew strips together. This month, those strips had to be cut down and made into 4-patch squares. I had to cut 200 pieces to get the 100 squares. Time consuming!!

However, I did finish both slipper! They were so fun to make and they came out so cute!I've also started the cutest scarf out of the same magazine, Jane Austen Knits. Just what I needed, another project!!

I am also still working on my hand sewn hexagons and still practicing my free motion quilting for the challenge. I actually feel  a little better after writing this post. I guess I am making some progress. Maybe it's not as fast as I'd like, but I'm getting there!!

Works in progress

Just wanted to post my latest practice piece for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge. I'm getting there but I find it difficult to find time to practice. My kids are still home on break but will be back at school this weekend. I'm hoping that will free up more time for me. I'd like my leaves to be a bit closer together and not so spread out. There seems to be so much to think about while machine quilting but I do think it's fun. I would love to finish one of my quilts with something other than an allover meandering pattern. I think I have a lot of practicing left to do!

I'm also working on a baby quilt for a co-worker. It's going together much faster than I thought. The sashing is taking more time than the actual block! Her baby shower is in a month and I hope to have it done by then. Hope she really is having a girl! When I was pregnant, ultrasound wasn't so reliable but she claims it's definitely a girl. Hope so!! I would feel bad to see a little boy with a pink quilt over him!!

Knitting Update

Even though I am practicing free motion quilting and working on a few quilting projects, I'm also doing a little knitting. Unlike quilting, I only work on one project at a time. I just finished one slipper.

This is just 2 different views of the slipper I finished. I was watching the last ever episode of One Life to Live. I loved doing handwork while watching soaps. I will certainly miss both All My Children as well as One Life to Life. I'll have to find something else to watch while I knit or hand sew. Anyways, my first slipper is done. I loved working on it. So fun. Here's the magazine I got the pattern from.

It only comes out once a year but it has the best patterns! They are very feminine and frilly. I love that stuff! There is also a scarf and a shawl I hope to knit. (If I ever get caught up with my other projects!) I just bought this yarn yesterday for the shawl pattern.

It's just a tiny bit variegated. It will look so nice! I plan on wearing the shawl as a scarf. I have no idea how I would wear a shawl. I dress pretty casually for work and don't dress formally very much.

I also wanted to share the hat my daughter made for her boyfriend for Christmas. I taught her to knit and take great pride in whatever she makes. It's her first cable project. I think it looks great!!

He wore it to my house last weekend and it looked really nice on him! I think I'm done knitting for the day. Time to get back to my quilting projects!!

Finally Free Motion Quilting!!

Finally got to try my hand at the first installment of the Free Motion Quilting Challenge offered by SewCal Gal. This is my 2nd or 3rd attempt on fabric. Depending on the fabric, it can be hard to see.
I used Auriful black thread and I'm not really sure of the weight. I bought this huge spool of thread quite a while ago so I could use it to machine quilt my darker projects.

My first attempt was much more loopy. I have to really concentrate on making the leaf a bit longer and not so heart shaped. At the same time, I'm trying to figure out where my next leaf is going! It will take awhile before I can coordinate everything at once but I do feel as though it's getting better. Thought you might want to see my first attempt:

I think it looks much loopier and my leaves were further apart. I still need practice but I do feel as though I'm improving. Let me know what you think. Would love to hear from you.

I'm not new to free motion quilting but I'm used to meandering. I've never had to think about making any sort of shape. I just tried to keep my loops uniform and tried not to cross threads. (Although it did happen sometimes!) Here's an example of some of my meandering:

Back to practicing my leaves!!

Paper Free Motion Quilting

It's been sort of a tough week. I wanted to really get going with the free motion challenge. However, there was a death in our family and everything seemed to stop. My uncle had been sick for quite a while but died Dec. 31. His death was very hard on my father. My dad is the last surviving member of his family.  I also had to work the whole weekend including the holiday. As you can probably tell, none of my plans actually worked out. I had to take a day off from work. My parents needed help getting to the funeral. My heating system needed to be worked on also. It all worked out in the end but my sewing machine stayed pretty quiet. I've been practicing on paper since it's easy to do wherever I am. I even tried some at work when it was quiet!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's. I will post pictures when I actually get to practice on the sewing machine! Hoping 2012 is a better year!!