6 Quilts for Boston.

Since I'm in Boston this week, I thought it was a good time to share some information about the Quilts for Boston relief effort being put on by Boston Modern Quilt Guild.  The goal is to make at least 50 quilts for those directly affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.  To do so, the BMQG is asking for help making quilt blocks in the color scheme of gray, white, blue, and yellow.

I pulled some fabrics from my stash and scrap bins to make my blocks.

I finished up two blocks this weekend, just in time to hand deliver them to Natalie this week!

This one has a little improv heart applique.

And this one is just random improv, although I do see a heart shape in it that was totally unplanned.

If you're interested in making blocks to help out, please check out the details here.  Blocks need to be shipped by May 24th.

There's also an effort being put on by the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild called To Boston With Love, in which they are asking for flag buntings to be flown somewhere in Boston this summer.  I haven't made my flags just yet but I definitely plan to!  Details of that effort can be found here.  Flags need to be shipped by May 21st, and you can find the shipping information here.

I hope some of you can find the time to help out with these efforts! 

9 weekend sewing.

Well I didn't get quite as much sewing done this weekend as I wanted to, but I did get a few things done in between closet building, a trip to the movies to see Jack Reacher, and having friends over for the Packer game on Saturday!

I finished my December blocks for do.Good Stitches, which will be my last blocks for the group for now.  I've decided to take a break for a little while but I'm hoping to join the group again at some point, I really enjoy it!

I also finished quilting my Cosmos Butterfly quilt!  Hoping to bind it and share it later this week!  I think Jackson approves :)

5 bee blocks.

I wanted to share some bee blocks I made recently, starting with these improv blocks for a quilt for a dear friend.  Nicke received her finished quilt a few days ago so it's safe to post these!

This quilt was made to give Nicke some strength and love after the passing of her mother, so I highlighted a few words of encouragement in the first block with handstitching.

 In the second block I filled in a little heart, as well as signed my name on one of the solid strips.

I really like the color scheme and the sort of 80s vibe that came through in these blocks, I might have to revisit it at some point!

Next, I finally finished my November blocks for do.Good Stitches (a month late, oops!).  The theme was "Amber Waves" with a yellow/gold and gray color palette, with blocks made using this tutorial. 

The blocks have some fancy pleats going on in the middle which are going to give the finished quilt some great texture!

Just need to finish my December blocks and I'll be all caught up and finished with bee blocks for awhile.

7 wonky butterflies.

I spent a few hours yesterday catching up on bee blocks for do. Good Stitches.  Kelly requested wonky butterfly blocks in summery colors.  

I used up some charm squares from the rainbow charm swap at Sewing Summit last year to make the wings, a white pindot for the background, and a few yellows for the center strips.

I sewed one block together just to make sure I was doing it right, and then chain pieced the other two to make the process go a little faster.

Here they are all finished, I really enjoyed making these!  The tutorial is very well written if you're interested in trying it out.

I think I'll have to revisit these butterfly blocks soon!  

12 wonky stars.

To those of you in the US, I hope you all had a great 4th of July!  Ours was alright, it was hot and humid and we ended up getting a big storm last night and didn't see the fireworks.  We did get to see some on the 3rd though, so all was well.

I put together my June do.Good Stitches blocks recently, and I think blocks like these would make an awesome Fourth of July quilt!  I'm kind of tempted to make one now for next year.  Who knows if it will actually happen.

I was originally inspired by this block, but ended up adding the star points so the inner square was not set on point.  Obviously I opted for a much more wonky version of a star as well, and I'm really happy with how they turned out.

The block below was actually my first block, and when I went to square it up I was short by a measly 1/4" on one side!  So I cut off an extra inch or so and added a strip of the arrow print (Michelle Engel Bencsko's The Banks print in Ocean).

These blocks are headed off to Lyanna, but they've definitely left me wanting to make more wonky stars soon!

4 tulip fields.

I finished up my May blocks for do.Good Stitches.  I am forever behind on bee blocks!!  It's sad.

These blocks were for Aprel, who wanted blocks inspired by the view of a tulip field cut by roads.  I love the block concept and they were fun to make!

Find the tutorial here.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

7 wonky cross blocks.

I actually made something today! A couple of wonky cross blocks for our circle of do. Good Stitches... a great way to ease myself back into sewing!

Here's a tutorial for these blocks, in case you've never sewn them before and want to make some!  They're super simple and go together really fast.

6 catching up on do.Good Stitches.

I finally finished the top of my do.Good Stitches quilt from September last weekend.  Why it took me so long to sew these blocks together, I have no idea.  But we're using February to finish all of our previous quilts so it was perfect timing.

I added some borders along the width of this quilt to make it a little wider.  I don't like really long and skinny quilts, the proportions just aren't right to me.  Since this one was 4 blocks wide by 6 blocks long, it needed something to make it wider.

I love this quilt!  The color scheme and the blocks are so much fun.  The ladies of the Inspire circle did a fantastic job putting these blocks together.

I figured out what I'm using for backing on this quilt, now I just have to find the time to baste and quilt it.  Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to get this one checked of my never ending list of WIPs.

I also finished up my January blocks for Heather this week.  She wanted string blocks using Ashley's tutorial They were fun to make...but took a lot longer than they should have since the first two I made were 1/2" too small!  That's what I get for cutting my foundation paper while chatting with a friend.

 I'd love to make an entire quilt like this at some point, it's such a good use for scraps!

 This is definitely going to be a happy quilt when it's finished!

Hope you all have a nice weekend!

6 november blocks.

I am so behind on blogging and blog reading! The Christmas making and baking are in full effect, and I'm just trying to get it all done in time. I'm planning to take a few extra days off next week to finish everything. On top of the usual holiday stress, we are starting our master bathroom renovation the day after Christmas. We're busy ordering all of the supplies we need so we can make a big dent in the renovation during our week off before the new year. Maybe I'll post more about the bathroom plans this week if I have time!

Here are my November blocks for the Inspire circle of do.Good Stitches. Becky asked for Bottled Rainbow blocks in a smaller size. I had orange and green!

 These blocks are a great way to use up scraps!

 I realized just how many green scraps (and scraps in general) I have while making this block.  I definitely need to spend some time organizing them a little better.

I didn't have many orange scraps, so I actually had to cut into a few fabrics just for this block.  I guess I should start using more orange!

9 august blocks.

Sorry for the silence around here last week!  Being in Boston for work and having the plague does not make for a fun week.  But I am feeling much better now and have a lot of things to write about after a weekend full of sewing.

Here are my blocks for Lydia's colorful houndstooth quilt for do.Good Stitches.

Lydia asked for monochromatic blocks in varying values.  I chose to make pink and green blocks, since I have so many different fabrics in these colors!   

I know this quilt is going to turn out wonderfully!  You can see finished quilts from our do.Good Stitches charity bee in the finished quilt flickr group!

5 Citrus sails.

July's blocks for do.Good Stitches were "Citrus Sails", made for Lyanna.  She asked for HSTs in a nine patch in vibrant green, yellow, and orange, with Kona Coal as the solid.

As soon as I was finished with these blocks I knew a little photoshoot was in order.  They are so bright and fun! This quilt is going to look great all put together.

If you're interested in joining do.Good Stitches, you can fill out the form to join the waiting list here.

5 june blocks.

Did you all have a nice 4th of July?  It was such a beautiful weekend here!  We spent it with friends and family, on the lake and in the pool.  It was so nice to have a few days off!  I found some time this weekend to put together my blocks for our do.Good Stitches quilt for June, a little late since I have been out of town so much this month for work.  Becky asked for 12" pieced right triangles in whatever colors we wanted.  I took the opportunity to go through my overflowing scrap bin to make these.

Are you sick of seeing things made in these fabrics yet?  I feel like I've been using them for everything lately.  I haven't bought any new fabric since the beginning of April, which is probably a record for me.  I do have a stack of Habitat waiting for me though, and I don't want to buy anything new until I use some of it!

Anyway, back to the blocks.  They were really fast and fun to make.  I picked some scraps that I thought would look good together, and just started sewing strips together with varying widths.  Then I just squared up the block and cut it in half diagonally.  Super simple.

This quilt is going to look so cool when it's all sewn together!  I kind of want to make one of my own.

Did you notice some evidence of a possible design wall in these pictures?  More on that later this week, once it's actually hung on the wall!