Smoothing things out

Last night, rather than work on any of the projects I have already started...I decided it'd be a great idea to iron out some new fabric and cut more strips. Sure, because who DOESN'T want to iron when it's 90+ degrees out??

Ugh.

Anyway, it has come to my attention that I should probably acquire some kind of ironing board. Last night I was ironing on a stack of fabric on my desk. Effective for fat quarters, but certainly not for yardage.

What do you iron on?

I should have stuck around for #talknt on Twitter last night, since they were talking about ironing, but I got distracted, as always. :(

Book on the way!

In lieu of the Farmer's Wife book, which everyone seems to be doing, I ordered this one:

I plan to use the vintage-style fabrics that my aunt gave me for this one. I read online that the Farmer's Wife doesn't include great instructions, while it looks like this one does have them...important for a beginner like me!

I don't think I'll start on this until after I've worked on my nine-patch (and maybe another nine-patch!) some more. I am not entirely confident in my ability to line up seams, and you really need to be able to do that to get a quilt like this to look right!

Is it just me....

Or is there anyone else who'd much rather put new color and fabric combinations together instead of working on projects in progress???

I've got FOUR quilts I need to finish up as Christmas presents, and which I started months ago...

But instead I've started more. The quilt for my sister-in-law, the Tetris quilt, the nine-patch blocks I've started...and I just put together four new color combinations from my stash.

Oops.

In the meantime, here are my nine patches:

I only had to pick out two or three strips, but overall, they look pretty good! I have charm squares of the same fabric - but the nine patches are six inches and the charms are five...so I think I'm going to put white sashing around the edges of the charms, then white all around ALL the squares. Thoughts?

Another finish, and another WIP (edited to add SBM!)

Edit: Hi everyone from Small Blog Meet-up! This isn't the most current post on my blog, but it IS the most current post that makes it look like I actually have completed something! ;) The post I originally did for the link-up can be seen here. :) 

I wasn't able to blog about this quilt before because it was a gift and I had to wait until it was given. It's another jelly roll race-style quilt, made from stashed fat quarters and bits left over from other fabric. The front's all regular cottons, the back, solid black flannel. It's a couch sized piece (the photo shows it spread out on our bed, which is a flattened out futon and slightly smaller than queen-sized). Hopefully it keeps my cousin and her new husband warm for many years!

I've also started a new jelly roll quilt, this one nine-patch style. Joann had some half-jelly-rolls on clearance (only 20 strips?? it forced me to go back for a second trip) for $7, so I bought some, along with packs of charm squares to work with, too.

I love the calming blues mixed with the browns and oranges. I am trying my best to actually follow all the steps in the book, including ironing - which I hate!!!

What are you guys working on this weekend?

WIP Wednesday

I actually have some WIPs that I can blog about now , so I can finally join in Freshly Pieced's W.i.P. Wednesday! :D For a while all I'd been working on were gift quilts (though admittedly I still am) but now I've started a few projects that don't have destinations or which, heaven forbid, are actually for my husband and I!

First, the longest-running project, the queen sized quilt for our bedroom - simple 4" squares, in a brick-like pattern, in a blue/purple/black scheme to match the bedroom we have not yet painted. I'm about 3/4 of the way through quilting it (straight line quilting, 1/4" from the seams). I'm definitely hoping to have it done, um, before winter. I think I can manage that timeline. :)

I'll admit, I love the fancy designer fabrics from Moda...but the clearance racks and remnant bin at Joann's are a bit more my budget. I found this adorable jelly roll there this past weekend, and grabbed it. I'm planning on using it for a nine-patch quilt - my first attempt at using one of those nifty, sew-strips-together-and-turn-them-into-fancy-things techniques that seem oh-so-clever!

 While on our way home from vacation, I had the brilliant idea to make a Tetris-themed quilt. After deciding to use the color scheme from the Microsoft Windows 3.1 version of the game, I bought solids (again, at Joann, which had them 50% off all weekend) - hooray! Looking forward to getting started on that one.

Okay, so my kitties aren't a work-in-progress (or are they?) but they're adorable so I included them. They LOVE hanging out by the front door when it's open - Jeff and I call it Cat-TV. :)

Pinterest

I'm a little in love with Pinterest right now, even though it's not as reliable as one might hope. Whether it's finding adorable quilts to drool over / use as inspiration or pretty flowers to use as inspiration for tattoos, it's definitely been keeping me busy...often at work. Oops.

Anyway, are you on Pinterest? Check me out here!

So yeah, tattoos? I'm hoping to get another one. If I get another bonus like the last one, I want to get morning glories like so:

on my right arm, similar to this arrangement:

Found here

I need to find a good artist in my area; I'm not thrilled with the place I went to for my previous work. :) My bonus wouldn't come for another three months or so, though, so there's plenty of time!

Raiding Auntie Em's Stash

One of the highlights of my trip was going to my dear Aunt Mary's house - I just realized I could call her Auntie Em, hehe! My aunt sews...and used to work in a quilt shop...so enough said - we're pretty much birds of a feather, now that I've acquired this new hobby! She's realized recently that she's got WAY too much fabric, so she told me to bring an extra suitcase so I could raid her stash!

I didn't end up NEEDING the extra suitcase - she's got a lot of fabric for making clothing, which I wasn't interested in, but I did pick up quite a few fun things:

There's holly for the pennants I plan to make for each holiday (these for Christmas, of course!), whales for I'm-not-sure-what-but-they-were-adorable, and dancing skeletons for a mug rug for hubby's desk.

I also got some great basic-type stuff, including big polka dots...

But the best part was definitely all these sorta-50s-ish fabrics, with these adoooooorable little prints - aren't fat quarters basically the mini-candy-bars of the fabric world?

Fat quarters folded like triangles are even better!

There was also a stack of layer-cake-sized slices, about half of which have similar prints, so, you know, my arm was twisted into taking those, too! ;)

Lastly, my aunt sent me away with these - four boxes of Keepsake Quilting fabric sample squares. They're probably only 1" squares (I haven't measured and the inserts don't say). I have no idea what I'll use them for - a tiny patchwork quilt, perhaps? I have fond memories of spending afternoons with my grandmother sorting out fabric samples and taping them onto the boards that came with them. They were bigger than this, and cut with pinking shears, and I don't remember any of them being nearly as adorable as these. :) 

The retro prints have really inspired me to start on something like the Farmer's Wife book. I think they'd look absolutely darling in those blocks... I'm just still not sure if I have the dedication it takes to finish it!!